Night Shade
by Knappster
Summary: Yes, Aubrey was hot and super cute but she was also the person who was spearheading the let's-put-Stacie-in-jail movement. Staubrey superhero AU.


**A/N: This fic was written for backinthebox's birthday (I'm posting it a bit early because I'm gonna be gone for a few weeks so don't accost her with happy birthdays yet). It's long and kind of weird but I worked very hard on it so be nice. And, J, you're awesome. Thank you for writing awesome stuff and for talking to me even though I'm insane. I hope you don't hate this. Happy birthday!**

* * *

Stacie jumped to the rooftop of the building across the alley and looked down. "Still nothing on the scanner?"

"Nope," Benji's voice came through the little device in her ear.

Stacie crouched down, her black cape billowing softly in the wind. She had gone out with the intention of testing the new magnets in her suit but it was an unusually quiet night. There had been nothing on the police scanner and she had been hopping across the rooftops of one of the sketchier neighborhoods in the city for almost an hour, but everything was calm.

She pulled her hood lower over her face and lifted the mask covering her mouth and nose. Her black full body suit wasn't exactly flattering but it was functional. It protected her better than her first prototype with cleavage and a skirt did, and it was light enough so she could still throw a high kick without any problems. Her boots had also been designed for maximum speed and protection, even though Stacie argued they could maybe forego some of the features for cuter looking shoes.

"I think I'm gonna call it a night."

She walked across the roof, trying to figure out the fastest way to get back to her bike, when she heard a loud thumping sound on the alley beneath her. She peered down and spotted a kid tripping and falling in the middle of it, three scary looking men entering the alley behind him.

Stacie smiled. "Got something."

Stacie jumped off the roof, her cape tensing behind her to break her fall, and landed in the middle of the alley behind the three men currently hunched over the scared kid.

The men turned at the sound of her boots landing heavily on the ground and Stacie raised her eyebrows. "Hey, guys, what's up?" The kid started crawling away from the men but the closest one kicked him on the side before he could get away. Stacie winced. "Hey, what the hell?"

She stepped forward and ducked to avoid getting hit by the man closest to her. She grabbed his arm and threw him at one of the other men. They crashed against the wall in a tangle of limbs and Stacie advanced on the one who had the kid.

Stacie looked at the kid, now sitting with his hand holding the side where he had been kicked. She nodded at him. "Can you walk?"

The kid gave her a small terrified nod. "Good, I'll take this asshole down while you run and get help. Can you do that?"

The kid nodded a bit more sure of himself now. The man smiled widely and Stacie frowned. She hadn't expected him to cower in fear but he could show some respect. She was a well known crime fighter with a great record, at least mild trepidation would be nice.

And then she heard a gunshot and felt something bounce against her shoulder, her suit protecting her from the hit and distributing the force of the impact so she barely felt it. She rolled her eyes and turned, one of the men she'd thrown against the wall was standing up again and pointing a gun at her. "You're gonna hurt someone with that, and it won't be me."

Stacie extended her arm in the direction of the gun and it flew out of the man's hands and into hers. She released the magazine and she let it fall with a clatter, kicking it to a dark corner of the alley.

The three men were now standing around her and Stacie took a step back to keep them all in her line of sight. She waited for them to make a move, the man closest to the kid moving first.

She flipped the gun to grab it by the barrel and hit him on the side of the head with the grip. He stumbled backwards holding his head as the other two men came at her. She blocked one of them but the other one managed to land a punch on her stomach.

Stacie flinched. Even though her suit provided some protection, it was designed to stop high speed projectiles, not punches. She blocked a few more punches and had to take a few steps back. She growled and grabbed both men by the wrists. "This might hurt a bit."

And electric charge was released from her gloves and went through the men, making them shake and fall unconscious at her feet.

She heard a clatter behind her and she turned to find the guy she had hit with the gun holding the kid in front of himself with a knife against his throat. "Let me walk away and no one gets hurt."

Stacie sighed. "Kid, I told you to run."

She extended her hand and the knife flew at her out of the guy's hand blade first. Stacie realized her mistake a little too late and, even though she turned her hand, it cut into her palm. "Fuck."

"What happened?" Benji asked in her ear.

"I'm fine." Stacie grunted.

The guy shoved the kid at Stacie and started to run towards the end of the alley. Stacie closed her injured hand and ran after him, taking out a tranq gun from her hip holster. She fired, the dart shooting forward noiselessly and landing on the man's shoulder. He took two more steps before he fell to the ground unconscious.

Stacie stopped next to him to catch her breath before she turned. The kid was nowhere to be seen and she could hear the sound of sirens getting louder.

She ran back to pick up the knife and wipe her blood from the blade before jumping to climb up the fire escape back onto the roof. She waited until she saw the red and blue lights from the patrol cars and started making her way across the rooftops to where she'd left her bike, using her cape to glide between buildings and landing a few blocks away.

She looked around to make sure no one was there before pulling off her hood and cape and putting on her helmet. Making her way out of the alley, she took a circuitous route to the outskirts of the city to her house.

She drove past the main gate and turned into the woods, the bike rumbling as it made its way through the rocky dirt road that led to her underground lab at the back of her property. The proximity sensor pinged the built in interface in her helmet prompting her for the password.

"NH4OH"

A robotic voice came through the speakers. "Identity confirmed. Welcome, Miss Conrad."

A set of doors opened in a small clearing and Stacie continued down the ramp and into her garage. She heard footsteps behind her as she dismounted and pulled her helmet off her head.

"What happened, is everything okay?"

Stacie smiled at Benji and lifted her hand. "Yeah, it's just a cut. Using the magnet on a knife was one of my least brilliant ideas."

He grabbed her hand and turned her palm up, pulling off the black glove. "You need stitches, come on."

Stacie followed him through a door and into a small, bright room with an exam table and medical supplies. Stacie hopped on the table and waited for Benji to gather everything he needed, pulling up a tray and a chair and sitting in front of her.

Benji had been helping her almost since the beginning, since he caught her working on her cape at work. He made a suggestion on how to make the material lighter so she could use it for gliding while still being bulletproof and Stacie had brought him on to help, after running extensive background checks, making him take various secrecy oaths and sign a number nondisclosure agreements.

"We need to make the gloves thicker or alter the magnetic field so I don't get cut whenever I disarm someone with a knife."

Benji nodded as he used an alcohol soaked cotton ball to clean out the cut. "We can probably work out a way to revert the polarity once the object is close enough. Or change the material but that might interfere with the electric discharge."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll work on it tomorrow." She grimaced when Benji started stitching the cut but she kept her hand still. "Was there anything on the news?"

"It started when you were getting in." Stacie moved to get off the table and Benji tutted. "I'm not done."

Stacie grumbled but stayed there until Benji was done stitching and bandaging her hand. She usually didn't worry too much about public opinion. The whole city had been mostly on her side ever since she started fighting crime a year back. That was until the new District Attorney was appointed and had started an anti-vigilante crusade.

When Benji finished, she jumped off the table and kissed his cheek making him blush. "Thanks Benji."

She went into her control room and turned on the screen that spanned almost the entire back wall. The DA was standing in front of an ambulance and a couple of police cars with a handful of microphones in front of her.

 _The problem is not that she saved the kid, the problem is that she resorted to assault and electrocution. This… Night Shade, or whatever she calls herself, is a criminal and she needs to be brought to justice, not put on a pedestal._

Stacie muted the feed with a scoff. "I can't stand that woman."

"Well she's telling the truth."

Stacie gasped and turned to Benji. "You think I should get arrested?"

Benji dropped the glove she had taken from Stacie earlier on a work table. "I did not say that, but you are breaking the law strictly speaking."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Only to stop bigger lawbreakers from breaking it further! I'm performing a public service. I should get a medal, not handcuffs."

Benji snorted. "Well you're not getting one as long as she's around. She's talking about having the police start a task force to find you."

"What? Why? They should have a task force to stop the real criminals, that way I wouldn't have to break the law."

Benji shrugged. "That's what I heard."

Stacie turned back towards the screen narrowing her eyes at the DA. "I need to do something about her."

"Like what?"

"I don't know! Find out everything you can about her." Benji nodded and sat behind one of the monitors. "And find out if she's single, and straight."

Benji quirked an eyebrow at her. "Are you going to seduce her into submission?"

"Please, with the skepticism. You know I could. And maybe I will, I don't know." She turned around and went to the other desk. "Maybe we'll find something we can use as leverage."

* * *

Stacie adjusted her grip on her coffee cup and looked around from her spot at the front of the courthouse. "Are you sure she's coming?"

Benji's voice came through the tiny device in her ear. "Her calendar says she's supposed to be in court in 20 minutes."

Stacie sighed and turned her head again, straightening up when she saw the blonde approaching. "She's coming, call her now."

She saw her stop to answer her phone and Stacie pushed off from her spot against the building and started walking towards her. She slowed down making sure the blonde was distracted before speeding up and crashing against her, spilling her coffee all over herself.

She stumbled back a few steps looking down at her shirt now drenched in coffee and then up at the blonde. She was covering her mouth and holding her phone away from her ear with a shocked expression.

She recovered after a few seconds and put the phone down, hurrying towards Stacie. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you. Are you okay?"

"It's fine, it was my fault. I was distracted" Stacie said while trying to dab her shirt uselessly with the napkin in her hand.

The blonde pulled her to the coffee cart in front of the courthouse and grabbed more napkins, handing them to Stacie and biting her lip nervously. "I really am sorry. Let me pay for your dry cleaning."

Stacie looked up at her and gave her a lopsided smile. "It's okay, really. I kinda hated this shirt anyway."

The blonde narrowed her eyes in recognition. "You're Stacie Conrad."

Stacie knitted her eyebrows. "Have we met?"

"No, well, sort of, maybe. I've seen you at parties at the mayor's house." Stacie arched her eyebrows. "I'm Aubrey Posen."

"I know who you are." Stacie smirked.

Stacie noticed a faint blush cover Aubrey's cheeks. "Please let me pay, I insist."

"Okay. If you insist." Stacie stopped trying to do anything about her shirt and threw the wad of napkins into the trashcan next to her.

Aubrey looked at her watch and reached inside her purse. "I have to be in court like now but," She pulled out her card and scribbled her cellphone on the back handing it to Stacie. "Call me when you know how much I owe you?"

Stacie grinned and nodded. "Sure thing…" She watched her walk away and looked down at the card. "Aubrey Posen."

"Smooth."

Stacie jumped startled by the sound of Benji's voice, having forgotten he was listening. "Shut up, I got her number."

* * *

Stacie twirled the card between her fingers. Benji told her Aubrey's calendar was free after five so she'd probably be at her office working on her cases. She still wasn't sure what her plan was beyond getting close to Aubrey and maybe try to convince her that she wasn't that bad without revealing her secret identity.

She grabbed her phone and dialed the number on the back of the card.

"Aubrey Posen."

"Wow, people actually pick up their phone like that." Stacie chuckled.

"Who is this?"

"Right, sorry. Hi, it's Stacie, the person you spilled coffee on this morning."

"Oh." Aubrey paused. "Hi, sorry, I didn't recognize your voice. Not that I would, we talked for like five minutes. I mean, you don't have a forgettable voice, I just had a long day." Stacie chuckled. "Anyway, how much do I owe you?"

"About that…" Stacie knew she was taking a big risk here, but she had noticed Aubrey was at least slightly interested in her and her rambling had confirmed it. "I was hoping you could maybe pay me by allowing me to take you out to dinner."

Aubrey didn't say anything and Stacie was starting to regret asking. "Aubrey?"

"I'm still here. Sorry." There was another long pause. "Why do you want to have dinner with a stranger who spilled coffee on you?"

"I wouldn't say you're a stranger, we've been to the same parties. Although I'm sorry we didn't have the chance to meet properly until now."

"I don't know if I'd call spilling your coffee all over your shirt a proper meeting." Aubrey replied.

"Come on, Aubrey. You're hot, I'm hot, you know I'm not a crazy person."

Aubrey chuckled. "I really don't know that."

"Just dinner in a very public place. We'll meet there and if you don't have a good time you never have to see me again. What do you say?"

Stacie held her breath as she waited for Aubrey's answer. "Fine, I guess it can't be that bad."

Stacie pumped her fist in the air. "Awesome, I'll text you the details."

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Benji asked nervously from his chair.

"She's never seen me as Night Shade, there's no way she'd recognize me. Besides, I'm wearing glasses." Stacie grinned and winked at him.

"I know, but what if you like each other and you start dating?"

Stacie scoffed. "We won't. She's an uptight hypocrite who wants to have me arrested just so I don't keep making evident the ineffectiveness of the justice system she is part of. I'm sure she's just as corrupt as the rest of the people in this city."

"I wouldn't bet on that." Stacie arched an eyebrow at him and he sighed. "Well… you told me to find out everything about her so I tried to dig up dirt on her and I couldn't find anything."

"So she's very good at hiding things." Stacie lifted her leg onto a chair and secured a knife strap high on her thigh.

"Do you have to do that here?" Benji turned away and tried to hide his blush.

"I didn't have anything small enough for this dress at home." Stacie checked that neither the strap nor the knife were visible under the tight short dress and smiled. "You can turn back now."

Benji swiveled his chair around. "I went through both her work and personal computer, her email accounts, phone, financials, family, friends, everything. I'm telling you, she seems straight." He frowned. "Well not straight straight, clearly, but you know what I mean."

Stacie chuckled. "I guess I'll find out later how straight she really is." She rolled her eyes when Benji still looked worried. "I'll be careful Benji, I promise." Stacie twirled in front of the mirror one more time and winked at Benji before walking out. "Don't wait up!"

* * *

Stacie walked up to the table where Aubrey was sitting. "You're here early."

Aubrey looked up and smiled, standing up to greet her. "You're early too."

"Punctuality is one of my better qualities." Stacie kissed her cheek, smiling at Aubrey's small surprised squeak.

Stacie sat down across from her and picked up her menu. "Have you been here before?"

"No, I've been meaning to come for a while. I've heard good things." Aubrey replied biting her lip and looking at Stacie over her menu. "Have you been here?"

"No, it's my first time too." Stacie looked back at her, the silence stretching between them awkwardly. Finally Stacie smiled. "That felt awkward."

Aubrey laughed and hid her face in her hands. "It did. I'm sorry, I'm usually better at this but people talk about you like you're this mysterious, hot, millionaire genius. I'm still trying to convince myself that I'm on a date with you."

Stacie frowned. "You think this is a date?" Aubrey's eyes widened and she blushed. Stacie quickly reached out to take her hand. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. This is totally a date. I'm so sorry. I thought it would be funny, it wasn't."

"You're a horrible person." Aubrey shook her head and glared at her.

"I'm sorry." Stacie squeezed her fingers. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not nearly as mysterious and smart as most people think. And you're just as hot as me. I do have a lot of money though."

Aubrey chuckled and Stacie smiled wider at the fact that she hadn't removed her hand from under hers. "You've probably heard things about me too."

Stacie brushed Aubrey's knuckles with her thumb. "How about we forget everything we've heard about each other? I want to get to know you, the real you."

Aubrey smiled and Stacie could see her practically melting at her words. "That sounds good."

Stacie felt her stomach flip and she pushed it down. She wasn't supposed to feel anything. Yes, Aubrey was hot and super cute but she was also the person who was spearheading the let's-put-Stacie-in-jail movement. And even if what Benji said about her not being corrupt was true, she couldn't let herself have feelings for her. This was simply an intelligence gathering, putting a good word in for kick ass superheroes mission. No feelings allowed.

Aubrey removed her hand from under Stacie's to keep looking at her menu and Stacie mentally kicked herself for feeling disappointed.

The waiter arrived to take their order and Stacie ordered an expensive bottle of wine, watching as Aubrey opened her mouth to protest but refrained, smiling when Stacie gave her a pointed look. When the waiter left, Aubrey straightened up on her chair and scooted closer to the table. "So, Stacie, what do you do?"

Stacie smirked knowing full well Aubrey already knew but was sticking to their deal of starting from scratch. "I work in a lab doing technology research."

"Oh realy? Where?"

Stacie chuckled but decided to play along. "Conrad Industries."

Aubrey tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Didn't you say your last name was Conrad?"

"I did." She laughed. "I own the company, but I don't run it. My parents tried to get me into the whole managerial side of the business before they died but I was always a nerd at heart. When I inherited the company I let the board appoint a CEO and I decided to focus on the research side. Other than going to a few board meetings and getting a check at the end of the year, I don't really have anything to do with the larger corporate decisions."

Aubrey smiled and leaned forward. "So you don't really have to work, you just do it for the love of science."

"You could say that."

The wine arrived and Aubrey waited while Stacie tasted and approved it before it was served, taking a small sip and smiling at her.

Stacie ran her finger along the bottom of her glass. "What about you? What do you do?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes goodnaturedly. "I'm a lawyer with the District Attorney's office. I'm the District Attorney."

"Wow, so you're a big deal then." Aubrey stuck her tongue out at her fake impressed tone. After returning the gesture, Stacie leaned forward with a serious look. "Putting criminals in jail sounds dangerous though, what made you choose that line of work?"

"My family's always been in law enforcement so I've always believed in defending the rule of law. But you're right, it's not easy or safe. I've received my fair share of death threats and I've lost people because of it."

Aubrey looked down sadly and Stacie covered her hand with hers. "I'm sorry."

Aubrey shook her head and looked up. "This isn't really a first date topic." She smiled at Stacie and brushed her fingers over her hand before moving it to her lap. "So, can you tell me more about what you do or is it all top secret?"

Stacie chuckled and sat back, ignoring the tingling feeling in the back of her hand and taking a sip from her wine. "I guess I could tell you if you promise not to tell anyone."

"I'm great with secrets." Aubrey winked at her.

* * *

It was raining by the time they walked out of the restaurant. They were the last ones there, their after dinner conversation stretching out until the waiters started cleaning up the rest of the tables.

Stacie noticed Aubrey hesitate at the door when she saw it was raining. She took out an umbrella from her purse and nodded at her. "Need me to walk you to your car?"

Aubrey shook her head. "It's okay, it's just a block away."

"You'll get wet and sick and I'll feel responsible. Let me."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Stacie opened her umbrella and wrapped her arm around Aubrey's waist keeping her close as they walked down the street to her car. They stopped next to the door and Aubrey turned to face her, staying close so she wouldn't get wet.

Stacie's hand was still on Aubrey's waist and Aubrey lifted her hand to Stacie's shoulder, brushing off an invisible speck of dust. "I had a great time."

"See, I'm not a crazy person."

Aubrey chuckled ducking her head. "I'm still not sure about that."

"We'll just have to do this again so I can convince you."

Aubrey nodded. "You have my number."

She rose onto her toes and kissed her cheek before turning to open the door. Stacie tried to make sure she didn't get wet while she entered her car, which caused her to get a little wet herself but she didn't mind. She waved when Aubrey turned to look at her before she started her car, and stood on the sidewalk until Aubrey's car disappeared around the corner.

She breathed out heavily and closed her eyes. "I'm so screwed."

* * *

Stacie leaned against the door frame to Aubrey's office and watched her reading a file while biting her lip and knitting her eyebrows adorably. She smiled and knocked on the open door softly, startling Aubrey. She frowned confused when she saw Stacie there. "Stacie?"

"Something funny happened to me today." Stacie pushed away from the doorway and walked to Aubrey's side of her desk, sitting on the edge. "I was supposed to meet someone for dinner but my date never showed up."

Aubrey's eyes widened. "Shit."

Stacie nodded. "Yeah, but then I remembered seeing in the paper this morning that a group of high profile drug dealers was arrested late last night, and I figured maybe you were busy working on that and you forgot?"

"I'm so sorry, Stace. I've been going over files and evidence all day." She motioned around the room at the boxes littering the room. "I know it's not an excuse though, I should've called you."

"I forgive you." She smirked, it had been kind of her fault anyway, she'd been the reason they had arrested them. "And since I figured you didn't stand me up to have dinner with someone else and you probably forgot to eat…"

She lifted a paper bag she'd brought with her and Aubrey smiled wearily. "You're the best."

"I know." Stacie hopped off the desk and took the bag to a table Aubrey had on the side. She moved the boxes of files on it to the floor and started unpacking the food.

Aubrey walked up behind her and put her hand on the small of Stacie's back making her pause her unpacking for a second to give her a quick smile.

This was their third date, their second one had ended early because Benji had called her about a robbery a couple blocks away. Stacie had told him to just call the police but he argued that she could get into the building and take the men down before the police even got there. She had told Aubrey there was an emergency at the lab and that she had to go, but ending their date early meant no goodnight kiss.

She had called Aubrey the next day, apologizing again and they had made plans to meet that night. After almost thirty minutes of waiting she figured that Aubrey wasn't going to show up. She knew she wouldn't stand her up on purpose and that she would've called her if she hadn't wanted to see her again. Their second date had gone great too, and while Aubrey had seemed disappointed that they had to cut it short, she didn't think she'd been mad. The only plausible explanation was that she had forgotten their date because she had been working late.

She finished setting the table and taking out the food containers, she'd also brought a couple bottles of sparkling water figuring Aubrey wouldn't want to drink if she was going to be working. She turned and smiled at Aubrey, gesturing at one of the chairs. "Dinner is served."

Aubrey placed her hands on Stacie's shoulders and looked at her shaking her head. "How are you real?"

Stacie smiled and took a step closer, her hands moving up to Aubrey's hips. "I don't know how to answer that."

Aubrey leaned up, her eyes flitting down to Stacie's lips for a moment. "I stood you up and you brought me food."

Stacie shrugged. "I didn't think you did it on purpose. And I couldn't let you starve."

Aubrey smiled, her nose bumping against Stacie's. "Thank you."

Stacie brushed her lips over Aubrey's briefly, Aubrey's lips moving up to kiss her more firmly. It was quick and soft but Stacie felt something stirring inside her that she couldn't ignore anymore. She couldn't keep pretending this was about getting Aubrey to back off.

She cupped Aubrey's cheek and kissed her again, taking a little more time to enjoy the softness of Aubrey's lips against hers. She brushed her thumb over Aubrey's cheek as she parted and looked into her eyes, smiling. "Let's eat, I'm starving."

Aubrey nodded and she let her fingers slide against Stacie's neck before she let her go and took her seat. She opened the container closest to her, moaning approvingly at the scent of curry and spices. "I love Indian food."

Stacie smiled. "You told me."

They started eating in silence, only speaking to ask for more food. Once they had eaten enough to quell their hunger, Stacie sat back and looked around Aubrey's office. "Don't you have people to go over evidence for you?"

Aubrey sighed. "I do, but with a case as big as this I like having a look myself in case they missed something. I can't afford to lose this."

"I know you don't exactly like Night Shade, but you have to admit getting those guys was really awesome." Aubrey rolled her eyes and shook her head noncommittally. "I heard she even took pictures of some of their deals. That's probably gonna help your case, right?"

"It won't make it harder, no."

Stacie frowned. "You really can't say anything good about her?"

"Stacie…" Aubrey sighed. "She's a criminal, I don't have anything good to say about people like her."

"You can't just throw everyone who breaks the law into the same category. She's not a bad person."

"It's not about her being a bad person or not. We can't just let people break the law because they think they have a good reason to do it."

"Maybe she wouldn't have to break the law if you did your job." Aubrey dropped her fork and Stacie realized her mistake. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean you specifically. I just don't think things are as black and white as you put them."

Aubrey folded her napkin and put it on the table. "I should get back to work."

"Aubrey, I'm sorry." Stacie stood up and crouched down next to her, resting her hand on Aubrey's knee. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm really sorry if I offended you."

Aubrey clenched her jaw and looked down at Stacie. "Okay."

"Bree, come on." Stacie grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles softly. "I'm really sorry."

Aubrey nodded and cupped Stacie's cheek. "I know the system isn't perfect, Stace, but I do what I can."

"I know you do, and I love that about you. I love how passionate you are about your job and I love that justice is so important to you. I wish everyone was a little more like you." Stacie turned her head and kissed her palm softly before pouting up at her.

Aubrey rolled her eyes and smiled, leaning down to kiss Stacie's pouty lip. "You're lucky you're so cute."

Stacie smiled and stood up, turning Aubrey's chair to face her and sitting on her lap. "Can we go back to before I put my foot in my mouth?"

Aubrey nodded and tilted Stacie's chin up to kiss her. "I really do have to get back to work though."

"In twenty minutes?"

"Ten."

Stacie nuzzled her cheek. "Fifteen."

"Fifteen."

Stacie kissed her cheek and smiled, relieved that she hadn't screwed things up. She brushed her lips up Aubrey's jaw and kissed the spot behind her ear. "Fifteen minutes is enough to show you how sorry I am."

She heard Aubrey's breath catch in her throat and felt her arms tighten around her waist. Stacie turned Aubrey's head to kiss her, the warm feeling inside her mixing with the realization that she would never be able to tell Aubrey the truth.

* * *

Aubrey had a reputation. You didn't get to be the District Attorney without a certain image, and she wasn't bothered by the fact that people saw her as a bitch or uptight. She had worked hard to get to where she was, and she much preferred people saying she got there by being a hardass than by being a slut.

She didn't have a lot of friends and she dated sparsely, it had been a few years since she went out with someone, and there certainly hadn't been anyone since she was named DA. She didn't have much time to date, and in her line of work the kind of people she met were either criminals or cops and she wasn't interested in dating either.

And then she met Stacie and all the walls she had carefully crafted around herself had come tumbling down. Since then, at least when she was with Stacie, she had turned into a completely different, albeit happier, person. She did things that most people who knew her wouldn't even believe, and she wasn't entirely sure she was comfortable with that.

But, no matter how hard she fought it, she could feel herself falling deeper and deeper into the black hole that was Stacie Conrad. No matter how many lists she made of the reasons why she should slow things down with Stacie, or even break things off, no matter how many times she told herself this would most probably end very badly, it all vanished the moment she was with Stacie. However, the feeling of unease returned every time, and this morning, even with Stacie sleeping soundly beside her, it had come back full force.

She glanced at her and slid out of bed, careful not to wake up Stacie and ignoring the urge to get back when she heard her sleepy mumble and saw her hand reach out to her side of the bed. She threw some clothes on and double checked Stacie was still sleeping before walking out of the room and into the kitchen. She thought better when she was doing something and staying in bed was only making her obsess over it more.

She took the carton of eggs out of the fridge along with some cheese and ham for an omelette, her mind already going over the list of reasons why having a relationship in general was a bad idea and why having one with Stacie in particular was worse. The most important reason, at the moment, was the fact that she knew she was falling in love. She could feel it churning inside of her, and she knew that the longer she waited the harder this would be. If she was going to get out it had to be now.

She started going over Stacie's bad qualities again, even though they were all superficial things she knew she could get over. She was counting 'too much money' for the third time when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and Stacie's body pressing against her back. "Morning."

She stiffened slightly. "Hey."

"You left." She felt Stacie kiss her shoulder.

"I thought I'd get started on breakfast." Aubrey half shrugged with the shoulder that wasn't being peppered with kisses by Stacie.

"Is everything okay? You seem tense." Stacie straightened up and ran her hands up and down her sides.

Aubrey dropped the whisk she had been using to beat the eggs and turned around. "No, I'm-" Whatever she was going to say got stuck in her throat when she noticed the concern in Stacie's eyes. She felt her heart beat erratically in her chest and suddenly Stacie's hands on her waist fell too hot.

Stacie frowned and lifted her hands to cup Aubrey's cheeks. "Hey, what is it?" She pecked her lips softly. "You can tell me anything."

Aubrey's resolve faltered, her heart feeling like it was going to beat out of her chest and break into a million pieces if she told Stacie she didn't want to see her again. It was too late. She attempted a smile and shook her head. "It's nothing."

Stacie still looked concerned but she took a small step back dropping her hands to her shoulders. "Are you sure?"

Aubrey nodded. "I'm just worried about a case."

Stacie twisted her lips to the side. "Anything I can do?"

Aubrey smiled genuinely this time and gave Stacie a quick kiss. "Help me cut some fruit?"

Stacie nodded and walked to the fridge taking a moment to inspect it. "Cantaloupe?"

Aubrey nodded and turned to look at Stacie as she walked to the counter next to her. She pointed at the cabinet where the cutting board was and handed her a knife.

Once Stacie was settled, Aubrey turned towards the stove to keep cooking the omelette. She tried to focus on what she was doing, the realization of her love for Stacie making her be hyper-aware of every move the brunette made. She poured the eggs on the pan and she had just flipped the omelette when Stacie cried out. "Fuck."

Aubrey turned off the heat and turned towards Stacie who was now holding her finger in her mouth. "What happened?"

"I cut my finger." Stacie pouted and held out her finger, a tiny drop of blood squeezed out of the wound and dripped down her finger.

Aubrey grabbed Stacie's hand and took her to the sink, running cold water on the cut. "I'll go get alcohol and a band-aid." She lifted Stacie's finger and kissed the tip before getting her first-aid kit from the bathroom and returning to the kitchen.

Stacie hissed and tried to pull her hand away when Aubrey cleaned the cut. Aubrey held her tighter and looked at her sternly before continuing, wrapping the band-aid around it and kissing it again before letting go of Stacie's hand. "There. Do you think you can finish cutting the rest of the melon without more accidents?"

"I think so. I don't usually do much cooking or cutting."

Aubrey wrapped her arms around Stacie. "Aw, my poor rich baby."

Stacie shrugged and kissed Aubrey, taking a step back so they could finish breakfast. "Do you have any plans for today?"

"Not really, I have some case files to read and I'll probably do laundry."

"Ooh laundry, what is that?" Stacie stuck out her tongue and Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Can I stay?"

"You want to watch me read case files and do laundry?" Aubrey arched an eyebrow.

"I have my laptop, I can do things. I just want to spend the day with you."

Aubrey felt the insistent tugging on her heart again and nodded. "Sure, why not?"

The warm feeling stayed with her the rest of the day, getting stronger whenever Stacie smiled at her or touched her. She felt the words pressing against her lips fighting to get out. But one thing was accepting the fact that she loved Stacie and a whole different thing was being the one who said it first.

Aubrey put down the case file she had been reading, leaning back against Stacie's side. Stacie threw her arm around her shoulder and started twirling a strand of her hair absentmindedly, her other hand holding a book she grabbed from Aubrey's shelf. Aubrey turned her head and kissed her cheek, turning her body so she could put her arm around Stacie's midsection.

"How's your finger?"

Stacie put the book down, using the remote as a temporary bookmark, and moved into a more comfortable position wrapping her other arm around Aubrey. "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's good, because you were very whiny about it when it happened." Aubrey kissed her but Stacie pulled away almost immediately.

"I was not!"

"You were." Aubrey nodded seriously and Stacie pouted. Aubrey chuckled and kissed her repeatedly until Stacie responded.

She broke the kiss and leaned her head against Stacie's shoulder, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of Stacie's hand moving up and down her back. Part of what made her fall in love with Stacie was how safe she felt with her. She'd never thought she'd want that, and she certainly didn't need someone to come save her. But it was nice to take a break from everything in her life sometimes and just lose herself in Stacie's arms. "I'm really glad you stayed."

Stacie smiled and turned her head to kiss her brow. "Me too."

* * *

Stacie kicked away the gun that was being pointed at her when Benji's voice came through her comm. "Stacie, your girlfriend is calling again."

"Can you send the call through here?" She blocked a punch and jumped back.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, please." She threw a low kick at the guy's knees but he jumped away and Stacie muttered a curse.

"Stacie?"

"Hi, baby. What's up?" She stopped and smiled at the sound of Aubrey's voice and the guy landed a punch to her jaw. She shook her head and grabbed the guy's arm when he tried to punch her again.

"I just wanted to remind you to get some wine before you came over."

Stacie twisted the guy's arm behind his back. "Yes, babe, I will. I'm leaving work in a bit, I'm just wrapping something up."

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

"Can't wait." She shoved the guy against the fence and pulled his other arm behind his back. "Bye."

She heard the call disconnecting as she zip tied the guy's wrists together. "Benji, can you call the cops now?"

"Done wrapping him up?"

"Yup." She grunted as she secured him to the fence behind him. She paused and frowned. "Hey, don't listen in when I'm talking to Aubrey!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Stacie walked to her bike and put on her helmet. "How long are you going to keep seeing her? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I can't help it. I-" she sighed, "-I like her a lot. She's amazing. And yes, she still wants to put me in jail but I'm being careful."

"Fine, just don't rat me out when it blows up in your face."

"It will not blow up in my face, Benjamin." Stacie huffed and turned off her comm.

She drove her bike to her house and changed quickly. She looked in the mirror and noticed that her lip was already swelling up and a bruise was starting to form on her cheek. She shrugged it off and grabbed a bottle of wine from the cellar before taking her car and driving to Aubrey's.

She smiled when Aubrey opened the door and leaned forward to kiss her hello but Aubrey pushed her shoulders back and reached up to touch her lip. "What happened to your face?"

"Kickboxing. I missed a block."

"Baby..." Aubrey pouted and kissed her softly. "Does it hurt?"

Stacie shook her head. "You can kiss me."

"You need to be more careful." Aubrey ran her fingers around the swelling. "Are they supposed to hit you this hard? This looks bad."

Stacie gave her a quick kiss. "I'm fine. What did you make for dinner?"

"Lasagna."

Stacie followed her to the dining room and placed the bottle of wine on the table, freeing her hands to wrap Aubrey in a hug. "My favorite!"

"You've said that about everything I've cooked for you."

"That's because everything you cook is my favorite."

"Well aren't you sweet?" Aubrey smiled and kissed Stacie's cheek. "You know I'm a sure thing, right? You don't have to try so hard to get into my pants."

Stacie gasped in mock offence. "Not everything I say is a ploy to have sex with you. Sometime's I'm just cheesy because..."

"Because you're adorable?" Aubrey leaned up to kiss her.

"Because I love you."

Aubrey stopped and pulled back. "You love me?"

Stacie smiled and pecked her lips. "I love you."

Aubrey captured Stacie's lips a little roughly. Aubrey felt her flinch when their lips connected and she touched the cut on her lip. She started to pull back but Stacie returned the kiss not letting her pull away. Aubrey's hands moved up to cradle her jaw, her gentle touch contrasting with the roughness of the kiss. She brushed her thumb tenderly over Stacie's bruised cheek.

Aubrey ended the kiss almost as abruptly as she had started it and looked at Stacie. "I love you too."

Stacie chuckled and started kissing Aubrey again, who indulged her for a few seconds before pulling back. "I have to check on the food." Stacie shook her head and kept kissing her, making her laugh. "I do! I'll be right back."

"Fine!" Stacie sighed and let her go. Aubrey started walking towards the kitchen, stopping when Stacie called out to her. "I love you."

Aubrey bit her lip but she couldn't hold back her smile. "I love you too."

* * *

Stacie closed the ring box and smiled widely at Benji. "So, what do you think?"

Benji frowned. "It's a nice ring."

"Come on, Benji, be happy for me!" Stacie slapped his arm and opened the ring box, looking at the ring with a goofy smile. "I'm asking her tonight. Do you think she'll say yes?"

"Are you going to tell her the truth?"

"You know how she feels about Night Shade, I can't tell her." She put the ring in her pocket and stood up.

"What if she finds out?"

"She won't!" Stacie snapped. She looked up at Benji and shook her head. "I'm sorry. But we've been dating for over a year and she hasn't suspected anything. I removed everything from the house, and even if she saw me in full costume, the only thing she could see is my eyes, everything else is covered."

"Alright! I'm happy for you." Benji stood up and hugged her when she gave him a skeptical look. "I really am! I'm happy that you're happy."

Stacie hugged him back. "Do you wanna hear my speech?"

Benji chuckled and let her go. "Don't you have to go get ready? I don't think she'll say yes if you show up in your lab coat."

"Oh, but she would. She loves it when I wear my lab coat and nothing else." Stacie winked at Benji who blushed furiously making her burst out laughing. "But you're right, I should go get ready."

Stacie ruffled his hair and walked out of the lab. "Good luck!"

Stacie left the Conrad Industries building and drove home, stopping at a flower shop on the way. She changed into a simple black dress and high heels and went downstairs to set up a small table for the two of them. The chef she had hired to prepare dinner was already in the kitchen. He worked at Aubrey's favorite restaurant and was making Aubrey's favorite dish.

Stacie was lighting a few candles and arranging the flowers when she heard the door close. She hurried to the entrance, her mouth dropping open at the sight of the blonde wearing a dark green dress.

"Wow! I know I told you to dress up but…" She gave a low whistle. "You look super hot."

Aubrey shook her head and stepped forward, placing her hands on Stacie's shoulders. "Are you gonna tell me what I dressed up for?"

"Dinner." Stacie kissed her quickly and led her into the dining room.

Aubrey gasped when they got there and squeezed Stacie's hand. "What's this?" She turned and scrunched up her nose. "You cooked?"

"No, don't worry." Stacie kissed her temple and pulled back one of the chairs. "I'll be right back with the food. Wine?"

Aubrey nodded and grabbed Stacie's wrist before she could walk away. "What's the occasion?"

"No occasion." Aubrey quirked an eyebrow but Stacie only smiled and bent down to kiss her before she walked to the kitchen.

Stacie returned with two plates and then went back to get the decanter from the kitchen. She poured the wine and sat across from Aubrey, starting to eat. She looked up when she noticed Aubrey wasn't eating. "Eat, it'll get cold."

"Is this?" Aubrey took a bite and moaned. "Oh my god, it's better than at the restaurant." She took another bite. and then stopped, narrowing her eyes at Stacie. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Stacie said with a chuckle.

Aubrey put her fork down. "Well if there is no occasion and this isn't a preemptive apology, then I don't know what is happening."

Stacie reached out to take her hand. "Nothing's happening, babe. I just wanted to do something nice for you because I love you."

Aubrey looked at Stacie suspiciously for a beat longer before picking up her fork to eat again. Stacie smiled and took a sip of her wine. She waited until Aubrey finished her food but she was too nervous to eat too much herself.

She took their plates to the kitchen and took the individual chocolate fondants out of the oven where the chef had left them before leaving. She put them on plates and picked up the ring box from the shelf she'd left it on, taking a deep breath and holding it under her plate to hide it from Aubrey.

She placed the plate in front of Aubrey and sat across from her, cradling the ring box with her hands on her lap. Aubrey started eating her dessert, talking about something that had happened at work, but Stacie was running through her speech in her head.

"Stacie!" Stacie looked up wide eyed. "I said your name like four times, are you okay?"

Stacie stood up and hid her hands behind her back. "Aubrey, baby, I love you and I think we're great together. You are an amazing person! You're honest and smart and super hot. You're it for me."

Aubrey blinked up at her confused. "Thank you?"

"You make me so happy. I love falling asleep in your arms and waking up next to you, I love hearing about your day even though it just looked like I wasn't listening, I was. Actually, I wasn't and I'm really sorry because I want to listen to everything you say." She kneeled in front of Aubrey and took out the ring box. "I want to be there to listen to you for the rest of my life, to kiss you good morning everyday, I want to marry you. Will you marry me?"

Aubrey stared at her with her mouth open without saying anything and Stacie started to get nervous. She bit her lip and swallowed. "Bree?"

"You want to marry me?"

"Yes, I do." She said shakily. "Unless you don't. We don't have to if you're not ready. Maybe I'm jumping the gun here, and you could probably do better than me. I'm flaky and I forget things sometimes, and I know I can be a bit of a slob but I've really been trying to not just throw things wherever. Is it the money? Because I know sometimes it makes you uncomfortable but I don't-"

"Stacie, stop. It's not the money, and it's not you, you're perfect."

"Then what is it?" She blinked and a tear ran down her cheek. She moved closer and took Aubrey's hand. "If you need more time, I can wait."

Aubrey pulled Stacie up to standing and down onto her lap hugging her closely. "I do want to marry you, I just-" She sighed. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Why would anything happen to me?"

"Because you'd be married to me." She wrapped her arms tighter around Stacie's waist. "A lot of people hate me, bad people, who wouldn't hesitate using you to get to me."

"I can take care of myself." Aubrey snorted. "I'm serious! Nothing's gonna happen to me. And I won't let anything happen to you either, I promise."

"Stacie, I put people in jail. If you're my wife people are going to come after you."

"Bree, we can't let fear run our lives. I love you and you love me. I know the risks, you don't have to read the small print for me. I want you. Forever." Stacie cupped her cheek and pressed their foreheads together. "Marry me?"

Aubrey kissed her softly. "Okay. Yes, I will marry you."

"Don't sound so excited." Stacie said with a smirk.

Aubrey kissed her again and looked into her eyes when she pulled back. "I want you forever too."

Stacie chuckled and grabbed her hand, taking the ring out of the box and slipping it into Aubrey's finger. "Is everything always going to be so hard?"

Aubrey kissed her and looked at the ring. "What do you think?"

Stacie smiled and rubbed their noses together. "I think... I don't want easy."

* * *

Aubrey walked into her office to find a package on her desk. It was gift wrapped in white paper and tied with a golden bow. Aubrey opened the card and smiled, it said 'Congratulations!' in cursive. She flipped the card over, the handwriting looked vaguely familiar but there was no name on it.

She pulled on the bow and tore off the white wrapping paper. She pulled the box closer to the edge of her desk and opened it. There was another card inside the box, sitting on a bed of white lace. She picked it up and opened it, her heart speeding up as she read it.

 _I saw your engagement announcement in the paper and I wanted to give you something that showed how happy I am for you. There's a bomb in the basement of the building, you have until 9:25 to stop it. Tic toc._

Aubrey dropped the card back in the box and stared at it. She moved to the phone, her hands shaking as she picked up the receiver and called building security. "This is the DA. There's a bomb in the building. In the- in the basement, you have to evacuate now."

She hung up the phone still shaking, barely aware that the fire alarm had gone off. She looked at her watch. They had less than twenty minutes to find the bomb and stop it.

One of her assistants came running into her office. "Miss Posen, we need to leave."

She nodded and grabbed her purse, letting herself be led outside. Police cars and fire trucks were already closing off the street on both sides. She was pushed to the end of the street and she took out her phone, her hand shakily looking for Stacie's number, knowing that the only thing that would calm her down right now was her fiancée's voice.

She hung up angrily after the fifth ring and turned back to face the building. She saw a couple of people with anti-blast suits go into the building and a few police officers ushering some stray people out.

She sighed and called Stacie's phone again. This time the call was answered at the second ring. "Umm hi."

"Benji?" Aubrey frowned. "Is Stacie there?"

"She ran out when she saw the news about the bomb, she left her phone here."

Aubrey sighed. "Thanks, Benji. I'll look for her here."

She turned around. She couldn't have left more than a few minutes before but her office was close enough that they could meet for lunch sometimes. Still, with everything going on it would probably take her a bit longer to get there.

She walked to the edge of the barricade and tried to walk around it. "What's happening?"

"Ma'am, you need to stay back until the bomb is disarmed."

Aubrey planted her hands on her hips and leveled a glare at the cop. "Do you know who I am?"

The guy looked at her nervously but didn't budge. "I do, ma'am, but no one is allowed inside the perimeter until I get the all clear from the bomb squad."

"Can you at least ask on your radio for an update?"

The guy huffed but did as he was told, turning around to use his radio. He turned back a few seconds later. "They said Night Shade is here and she's trying to defuse the bomb."

"What? And they're just letting her? How do we even know she's qualified to do that? Why haven't they arrested her?"

"I don't think they have handcuffs in that suit," Aubrey frowned at him, "ma'am."

"Who's running this? Where's the chief of police?"

"She's down there." He pointed at a truck a few yards away. Aubrey nodded and tried to go around the barricade. "Ma'am, you really can't be on this side."

Aubrey rolled her eyes exasperated. She hated feeling this useless. "I need to talk to her! Let me through."

"I can't do that."

Aubrey looked at her watch. 9:26. The person who had sent the package had either lied or Night Shade had found a way to disarm the bomb. She looked around the cop and glanced at the door of the building. She saw a dark figure open the door but she couldn't make out who it was. "Is that her?"

The guy turned around excitedly. "I can't see, it's too far."

"Why is no one arresting her?" Aubrey took advantage of the cop's distraction to slip around him and walk towards the building.

"Ma'am it's not safe yet, you have to get behind the barricade." The dark figure vanished inside the building again and Aubrey sped up. "Ma'am, you need to get back." He ran and stood in front of Aubrey, stopping her and making her walk back.

"I need to talk to the chief of police right now!" Aubrey stood her ground and watched as people went in and out of the building.

"I will take you there once the area is clear, but right now you need to stand behind the barricade for your own safety," the man said slowly like he was talking to a child.

Aubrey glared at him for almost a full minute but finally turned around and stomped away behind the barricade when he didn't budge.

"Aubrey!" Aubrey turned around and saw Stacie running at her from the corner.

Stacie crashed against her and hugged her tightly without saying anything for a while. Aubrey returned the hug, letting all the stress from the past half hour melt away. She was safe, nothing could happen to her if Stacie was there.

Stacie pulled back and framed her face with her hands. "I was so worried. What happened?"

Aubrey pulled her in for a kiss instead of replying, needing to just be with Stacie for a bit longer before she went back to thinking about the bomb. She broke the kiss but stayed glued to Stacie's body. "I love you."

"I love you too." Stacie pecked her lips. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Aubrey hugged her tightly again, burying her face in her neck. She was starting to think that she might just stay there forever when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned her head, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around Stacie and found the cop that wouldn't let her through standing behind her.

"Ma'am, the chief sent me to find you."

Aubrey let go of Stacie and turned around, taking Stacie's hand and following him to the truck he had pointed out earlier. He eyed Stacie warily before knocking on the door and Aubrey narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to defy Stacie's presence by her side.

The door opened and the chief of police opened it with a smile. "Miss Posen," she nodded at Stacie, "Miss Conrad."

She stepped aside and they climbed inside the now empty truck. One of the walls was covered in monitors that showed the outside of the building and feeds from the security cameras inside. "What happened, Amy? Did you find the bomb? Why was Night Shade here, did you arrest her?"

"Whoa slow down." Amy waved her hands in front of herself. "It was a fake bomb."

"What?" Aubrey frowned confused and Stacie placed her hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles there. Aubrey moved imperceptibly closer to her, leaning into her touch.

"When it went off, the only thing that exploded was a cloud of confetti." Amy crossed her arms and shrugged. "Guess they just wanted to scare people. I was told you were the one who reported the bomb, do you have any idea who this could be?"

Aubrey shook her head. "No, the note wasn't signed, it just said it was an engagement present. I don't even know where it came from, it was on my desk when I got there this morning."

"What?" Stacie turned to look at Amy. "I want a protective detail on her at all times."

"Stacie, you can't just order the police to follow me around."

"Fine, I'll pay for it. I'd tell you to stay home but I know you won't listen to me. If you're going out, you're going with someone with a gun."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "What about you?"

"I can take care of myself."

"Alright, enough!" Amy glared at them. "You can figure out your marital problems later. We can have a patrol car outside your apartment and there's enough security here to keep you safe."

Stacie scoffed. "Right, it's so safe someone put a bomb in the basement."

"We're looking into that, but we're increasing security here and at the courthouse."

Stacie crossed her arms. "Send the patrol car to my house, she's staying there." She turned to Aubrey. "No argument. I could pick your lock in my sleep, I have a security system."

"Fine!" Aubrey turned back to face Amy. "What about Night Shade?"

"What about her?"

Aubrey glared at her, she knew the chief of police had a soft spot for the vigilante, which was part of why her task force to find her never got off the ground. "Why was she helping disarm the bomb? Why was she not arrested?"

Amy shrugged. "I wasn't there. I didn't even know she was here until the whole thing was over."

Aubrey narrowed her eyes at Amy but Stacie stepped closer to her. "Babe, let it go. They need to focus on finding whoever did this."

Aubrey huffed and Amy smiled at both of them. "Yes, we'll find them."

"Thanks Amy," Stacie said and took Aubrey's hand.

They walked out of the truck and into the street. The fire trucks and most of the police cars were already gone and the barricades had been removed. "Do you need to pick up anything from your office before we go home?"

Aubrey frowned. "It's not even lunchtime, I can't just go home."

"I think people will understand if you take the rest of the day off after someone sent you a bomb."

"It wasn't a real bomb."

Stacie sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples, taking a deep breath before looking up at Aubrey. "Fine, then I'll just stay here until you're ready to go."

"You don't have to do that, you heard Amy-"

"Someone tried to kill you today, Aubrey! Someone put a bomb in the basement of your building and sent you a note to tell you about it. I need to be with you, I need to know you're okay." Stacie lowered her voice. "Please let me stay."

Aubrey looked at her. She couldn't imagine what she'd be feeling if she was in Stacie's shoes, if someone had tried to do something to her. Aubrey took a step forward and hugged Stacie, smoothing back her hair. "Let's go home."

* * *

Stacie's phone rang in her pocket and Stacie untangled herself from Aubrey to get up and take the call. She left the room and Aubrey stretched herself on the couch, grabbing one of the cushions and hugging it to her chest.

Stacie came back less than a minute later and leaned against the back of the couch. "Babe, I gotta get back to the lab, there was a development on one of the projects I'm working on." She brushed her hand down Aubrey's arm and kissed her when she turned to face her. "Are you going to be okay here on your own?"

Aubrey nodded. "I'm going to bed in a bit."

"Okay." She kissed her again. "I'll be back later. I love you."

Aubrey smiled and pulled Stacie down. "I love you. Don't stay out too late."

"I won't." Stacie pecked Aubrey's lips, cheeks, and forehead before straightening up. "Bye, baby."

"Bye." Aubrey turned back to face the TV, hugging the cushion tighter. She heard the door close and the faint beep of the security system reactivating.

The sensors on every door and window were activated independently, unless they deactivated the entire system which required a 26 digit code and voice confirmation. If any door or window was opened without the code, or if the person wasn't wearing one of the smartwatches linked to the system, a signal was sent straight to the police department, as well as a private security company Stacie had hired. The smartwatch Aubrey was wearing also tracked her location and vitals, anything unusual sent an alert to Stacie's computer.

Aubrey didn't know when she fell asleep, but she woke up to the doorbell with a start. She looked at her watch, it was just after eleven. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, wondering who could be at the door.

The doorbell rang again and she stood up from the couch, stifling a yawn as she made her way to the door. She looked at the screen next to it and squinted, there was a car she didn't recognize at the front gate. She changed the feed to the side camera. Her eyes widened when she saw who was driving the car and she pressed the intercom button. "Chloe?"

"Hi, Bree." Chloe turned her head towards her voice. "Can I come in?"

Aubrey just stared at her for a moment and then shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Sure, I'll open the gate."

Aubrey opened the door and waited with her arms crossed until Chloe's car turned up the driveway and stopped in front of the house. Chloe stepped out of the car and smiled shily at Aubrey as she made her way up to the door. "I'm sorry to just show up this late, I just got into town and I didn't really know where to go."

"No, don't worry about it. I'm just surprised, I haven't seen you since…" She trailed off and stepped to the side to let Chloe in. "How did you know I was here?"

Chloe chuckled. "Everyone knows you're engaged to Stacie Conrad, I figured you'd be here when I couldn't find you at your apartment."

"Right." She led Chloe to the living room and turned off the TV. "Do you want tea or something?"

"Tea is fine."

Aubrey went to the kitchen and started the electric kettle with shaky hands. She wasn't sure how to react to Chloe's presence. She hadn't seen her in years, and she was happy about her coming back, but she had too many questions.

She grabbed a tray and placed two teacups on it, putting a tea bag in each and pouring in the now hot water. She grabbed the tray and took it to the living room, setting it down in front of Chloe. "How are you? It's been-"

"Three years." Chloe grabbed her tea and took a sip, putting the cup back on the tray next to Aubrey's before sitting back and stretching her arms on the back of the couch. "It looks like you're doing pretty good, Bree. You got the job, the girl, the house."

Aubrey bit her lip nervously at Chloe's bitter tone. She picked up her cup and sipped it slowly. "Yeah, a lot has happened since you left. Where did you go?"

"I needed some time, take a step back and understand what happened, why it happened." She smirked. "You see, Aubrey, when Beca died I thought I had lost everything. I lost the one thing that made me happy, and for a long time I blamed myself for not being there when it happened, thinking I could have changed something. But I was wrong." She paused and Aubrey felt a chill run down her spine at the coldness in Chloe's voice. "You were the one who could have done something. If you hadn't lost the case against him, he wouldn't have been able to kill Beca, he would've been in jail."

"Chlo, I'm-"

"Don't say you're sorry, that won't bring her back." Chloe stood up and paced in front of the couch. "You are the reason she's dead and now look at you, you're the DA and you're getting married to a millionaire." Aubrey started to feel dizzy and she was finding it hard to focus. Chloe smiled. "I put a mild sedative in your tea. You really should pay more attention, Bree." Aubrey couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. "Nighty night."

* * *

Stacie walked into the control room hurriedly. "What did you find?"

Benji swiveled in his chair to face Stacie. "I was looking into the components used to build the fake bomb but it was pretty common stuff so I couldn't find anything there. But I figured that whoever did this would have had to stake out the building so I went over the security footage for the past few weeks." He clicked a few things on his computer and started playing something on the main screen. "It took me a while to match the people who work there and discard people who were just visiting but someone stood out."

A series of pictures of a redhead appeared on the screen. "Who's that?"

"She was in the building at least six times in the past month, she never went past the lobby except for the first time when she went up to Aubrey's floor. But Aubrey wasn't there and she only talked to the receptionist. I got nothing off facial recognition" Stacie frowned at him. "But I hacked into the security cameras from the building down the street and…" He clicked his keyboard triumphantly and a video of the redhead getting into a car popped up. "I ran the plate and it's a rental. It was rented by Beca Mitchell."

"Isn't that-?"

"The girl who was murdered by her father a few years back? Yeah."

Stacie looked at the redhead with a furrowed brow. "Well she couldn't have rented a car. Did Aubrey work on that case?"

"Not that one, but she prosecuted his first trial, the one where he was charged with killing some college girls that had gone missing, when she was still an ADA. All the evidence was circumstantial so they couldn't get a conviction. He killed his daughter a few weeks after he was released."

Stacie pursed her lips. Someone close to Beca might still be holding a grudge against Aubrey. "Pull up everything you can find on Beca Mitchell."

Benji showed her one of the many articles that followed Beca's death. The story had an old picture of Beca that had been cropped from a group picture. Some girl's arm was around her shoulders but they had cut her out, the only thing visible was her hand and a scarf her to their wrist.

"Wait, I've seen that scarf." She sat down in front of a keyboard and opened Aubrey's facebook. "Aubrey has one just like it, it's from her college a capella group or something. I'm sure it's the same pattern, she's blindfolded me with it."

"I did not need to know that." Benji murmured.

Stacie found the picture she'd been looking for and clicked on it. It was an uncropped version of the picture from the article. A group of girls were standing in two rows, Aubrey was smiling and had her arm around the redhead's waist who had her arm over Beca's shoulder. "Holy shit."

Stacie hovered over her face to find out her name. Benji was already typing furiously and pulling up things about Chloe on the screen. He suddenly stopped typing and groaned. "What is it?"

Benji looked at Stacie with a grimace. "I can't find anything on her for the past three years, it's like she vanished after Beca's death. No credit cards, no employment records, nothing on social media."

"She clearly didn't vanish if she's trying to kill my fiancee!"

"I don't-" An alert flashed on the corner of the screen. "What's that?"

"Aubrey's watch." Stacie clicked on the alert. "She took it off, maybe she's taking a shower."

Stacie clicked on the location tracker and a green dot blinked on top of a map of the city. "That's not where your bathroom is."

"Shit." Stacie pulled up the security footage from the front of the house and rewound it until she saw movement. They watched in horror as Chloe carried an unconscious Aubrey and put her in the back of her car. "Fuck."

"How did she get in?"

"Aubrey must have let her in." Stacie was already halfway to where she kept her suit. "Find that car. I'm going to find the watch, maybe there's something there."

"If she took it off her she knows you can track it."

"Well I can't just fucking sit here and do nothing!" Stacie grabbed her helmet and walked to the door. "Let me know when you have something."

Stacie set up the directions to Aubrey's watch on her helmet's display and rode her bike as fast as it would go. She knew she was being reckless but the only thing she cared about right now was finding Aubrey. She pulled up to where the green dot was blinking and looked at the building. It was a parking structure and it didn't look like anyone was there.

She turned and rode her bike inside the building, riding slowly down the aisles and using her watch to find Aubrey's. She stopped when she recognized the car she had seen on the security footage, getting off her bike and walking to the window. She pinged Aubrey's watch and the screen came on inside the dark car.

"The car is here, the watch's inside." Stacie banged her fist on the top of the car. She could've had another car waiting here, they weren't going to find Aubrey like this, they could be anywhere by now. She could feel her throat closing up as the reality of her situation sank in. "Please tell me you have something, Benji."

"I'm sorry, Stace. I can't find her."

* * *

Aubrey opened her eyes and immediately squeezed them shut. Her head was throbbing and there was a dull ache on her right shoulder. Her wrists and ankles were tied to her chair, the ties digging into her skin painfully.

She opened her eyes and looked around. The room she was in was dark; there was a window in front of her that let some light in, but she couldn't see anything else. She tried to wiggle her wrists free but she was tied too tightly and the pain in her shoulder intensified, making her groan.

"You're awake!" She turned her head towards Chloe's voice but it was too far behind her. "I was really starting to get bored."

"Chloe, you don't have to do this. Please untie me."

She heard Chloe getting closer until she appeared on her right, circling her slowly and twirling a knife in her hands. She stopped in front of Aubrey and pointed the knife at her, pressing the tip against her shoulder. "Do you remember what you told Beca when she called you to tell you that she was going to look for evidence of her dad's guilt?"

Aubrey choked on a sob. "Chloe, please."

"You told her to let it go. That there was nothing else you could do."

"Maybe if she had listened to me she wouldn't be dead!" Aubrey snapped.

"I'm the one with the knife here, Aubrey, I would watch what I say." Chloe pressed the knife harder. It broke Aubrey's skin and a drop of blood dripped out of the wound. "She wouldn't be dead if you'd done your job. She was trying to save other people from ending up like she did. She was trying to fix your mistake."

The knife traveled down Aubrey's arm making her whimper. "Chlo, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I tried, you know I did."

"You didn't try hard enough!" Chloe lifted the knife and moved it back to Aubrey's shoulder.

"Chloe, listen to me, we're friends. You don't have to do this."

"Oh, we're friends?" Chloe laughed. "Am I still your best friend, Bree? Are you gonna ask me to be your maid of honor?"

Chloe moved the knife down Aubrey's arm again and she struggled against her bindings. "Chloe, please."

"How did you even get Stacie Conrad to agree to marry you anyway? She's way out of your league." Chloe stopped the knife right before she got to the crook of Aubrey's elbow, the blood from the previous cut was already pooling there and dripping down to the floor slowly. "Did you lose a case for her? Is she laundering money? There's no way she's with you because she loves you, not if you told her what you did."

Chloe lifted the knife and swung it close to Aubrey's face. "Chloe, I'm sorry about Beca, but you know she wouldn't want this."

"Don't tell me what she would have wanted!" Chloe took the knife and plunged it into Aubrey's thigh making her cry out.

* * *

"Okay, I found an apartment under Beca's name, two other properties under her dad's name and a few more under Chloe's."

"Can you narrow it down? It has to be somewhere she could drive in with Aubrey unconscious or somewhere secluded enough to not get caught." Stacie was trying to break into the car to find a clue that might help them narrow it down.

"Right, there's a warehouse by the docs and a cabin in the woods on the east side of the city," Benji said. "There's also the house where they found Beca's body."

"I need one place, Benji, the longer I take the lower the odds of finding her alive are." Stacie got the door open and she slid into the driver's seat. She tried not to think about an unconscious Aubrey on the back seat while she rifled through the contents of the glove compartment.

"I'm hacking into the CCTV feed around the warehouse. They couldn't have gotten there more than thirty minutes ago, if they went there I'll find them."

Stacie lay on her stomach and reached under the seat, groaning frustratedly when she didn't find anything. "Did you find anything?"

"Not yet, I'm almost done."

Stacie crawled forward to reach under the passenger seat. She felt around and her hand grazed a piece of paper.

"There's nothing on here, she didn't take it to the warehouse."

Stacie stretched as much as she could and grabbed the piece of paper, sitting up to read it. "I found a receipt under the seat. It's from earlier today from a gas station on 235 Pinewood Road."

"That's... " Benji paused as he looked up the address. "less than a mile from the cabin."

Stacie jumped out of the car and onto her bike. "Send me the address."

* * *

Stacie slowed down and hid her bike behind some trees on the road leading to the cabin. She was sure she was still too far for the sound from the engine to be heard inside, but she didn't want to alert Chloe to her presence and endanger Aubrey.

"I'm here." She took off her helmet and checked her gun was loaded.

"I can still call the cops, Stace. It would take them 20 minutes to get there."

"No cops until I know Aubrey's okay." She walked to the cabin making sure she didn't make a noise. A car was parked in front but all the lights were off. "Did you find anything on the cabin?"

"No blueprints on record but they searched it for the trial and I found a few pictures. It doesn't look too big, there's a kitchen and a living room on the bottom floor and it looks like it's just a big open space upstairs."

Stacie sighed. She didn't like going in blind but she didn't really have an option. She hid behind the car, crouching down in case there was anyone watching from the windows. From everything they'd been able to find about the abduction and the fake bomb, it looked like Chloe was acting alone. She just had to make sure she didn't do anything that could get Aubrey hurt or worse.

She studied the front of the cabin from her place behind the car. There was a small roof on top of the porch that didn't look too hard to climb onto. There was one window on the top floor facing the front, but if Aubrey was there, and Benji was right and it was one big room, she'd have to disarm Chloe pretty fast. She could try to break in through the front door, the lock wouldn't be too much of a problem, but a lot of things could happen by the time she got upstairs, even if she managed to get in undetected.

She made up her mind and slithered to the side of the cabin, climbing as silently as she could onto the porch roof and pressing her back to the side of the cabin. She edged closer to the window slowly, trying to hear something from inside. She heard a voice but it didn't sound like Aubrey and she couldn't make out the words.

The voice seemed to be coming from somewhere close to the window but she couldn't take a look without risking being exposed. She took out a small black ball from one of her pockets and placed it on the window ledge. As soon as it was on the surface, the ball sprouted legs and a small spider like robot started crawling closer to the window. Stacie tapped on her smartwatch and accessed the camera feed from the robot. The room was dark but she could see the redhead standing with her back to her. She zoomed in and saw she was holding a knife. It didn't look like she was holding a gun, but she couldn't know for sure.

She could only see part of Aubrey's leg tied to the chair but she couldn't tell if Chloe had done something to her from this angle. Anger boiled inside her and she pushed it down, she needed to stay focused.

She tapped a few commands and the robot calculated the space between the window and Chloe, and Chloe and the chair. She ran the numbers in her head and worked out a plan to take the redhead by surprise and get her away from Aubrey before she could react.

She went over her plan in her head one more time before turning to grab onto the roof of the cabin and pulling herself up onto it. She positioned herself over the window, checking on the camera feed that Chloe hadn't moved, before edging backwards and jumping down. She grabbed onto the edge of the roof and swung forward, hitting the window with her heavy boots and breaking it.

She landed in front of Chloe, not giving her time to react before throwing a high kick to the side of her head making her fall unconscious a few feet away and revealing Aubrey tied to the chair behind her.

Everything else faded away when Stacie saw Aubrey and she ran to her. Her head was hanging forward and Stacie cradled her cheek softly, brushing her hair back. In addition to the gashes running down her arm and the stab wound on her thigh, her face was bloodied and bruised.

She shook her shoulder and Aubrey opened her eyes slowly. "Hey, I need you to wake up." Her voice was masked by a device in her suit, but it couldn't hide the concern in her voice. She started untying her wrists and Aubrey shifted on the chair with a groan. "Are you okay? Can you walk?"

Aubrey looked at Stacie and blinked her eyes. She swallowed but her voice was still hoarse when she spoke. "What happened?"

"You're okay, I've got you." Stacie cupped her cheek again and then moved to untie her other wrist.

She was almost done when she heard the click from a gun behind her. "Get away from her." Stacie hesitated for a second, calculating if she could reach her gun fast enough. "Don't try anything or I put a bullet in her brain."

Stacie lifted her hands and stood up still facing Aubrey. She took a step to the side and turned around towards Chloe. She had the gun pointed straight at Aubrey's head and Stacie mentally kicked herself for not making sure Chloe was down before going to Aubrey.

Chloe chuckled darkly. "I didn't expect you to come to her rescue after everything she's said against you. You really are a hero, aren't you?"

Stacie started moving to the side, hoping to get in between the gun and Aubrey but Chloe stopped her. "Don't even think about it."

"No one has to get hurt, Chloe. Just put the gun down."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "You know my name, interesting. I really underestimated you, Night Shade." She spat the name and smirked. "But I did my homework too and I know all your tricks, so don't even think about using your little magnet on me, I'll shoot her before the gun leaves my hand."

Stacie gritted her teeth. She had to distract Chloe and get her to point the gun somewhere else.

Benji cleared his throat in Stacie's ear. "Stacie, I've been watching on the spider-bot. I think I can create a distraction but it's going to take me a bit and you're going to have to move fast."

Stacie raised her hands higher. "Chloe, the only way you walk away from this is if you don't kill Aubrey. The second you pull that trigger you lose your leverage and I take that gun away."

"The second I stop pointing the gun at her you'll do it too. This way at least I finish what I came here to do."

"I'll let you go if you let her live."

Chloe adjusted her grip on the gun. "Right, because letting criminals walk away is totes what you do."

"Just wait!" Stacie was running out of ideas to stall her.

"Almost there, Stace. I'm gonna overload the spider-bot and create a small explosion to your right, it should distract her long enough for you to disarm her or get Aubrey out of the way."

Chloe widened her eyes. "What am I waiting for?"

Benji's voice came through her comm. "Three… Two… One."

Stacie smirked. "That."

The robot exploded making Chloe turn towards it. Stacie used her foot closest to Aubrey to flip the chair over to its back, activating the magnet at the same time to take the gun from Chloe. A shot rang out before the gun flew into Stacie's hand, and she barely had time to catch it before Chloe was lunging at her with an enraged yell.

Stacie fell on her side and elbowed Chloe making her get off her and fall onto her back. She pushed herself up and punched Chloe hard, her head thudding against the floorboards. "You should've walked away when I gave you the option." Stacie hit Chloe across the face with the back of her hand. "Although you were right, I wasn't going to let you just walk away after what you did to Aubrey."

She stood up and took the gun she had taken from her, aiming it at her head with a slight tremor. She'd never killed anyone before, but the thought of how close she'd come to losing Aubrey was blinding her with rage. She took a deep breath and steadied her aim, she could feel the tension from holding the gun all the way to her shoulder and down her back.

"Wait!" Stacie felt a hand on her free arm. "Don't kill her, please."

"She kidnapped you. She tortured you. She would have killed you, why shouldn't I kill her?" Stacie could barely get the words out through her clenched jaw.

Aubrey squeezed her arm lightly. "You're not a murderer, don't turn into one."

Stacie let Aubrey's words sink in. She was right. If she killed Chloe she wouldn't be able to live with herself, she wouldn't be able to look at Aubrey in the eye again. She wouldn't be able to come back from that. This wasn't justice, it was an execution.

She shrugged Aubrey's hand away and reached for her own gun, shooting a tranq dart at Chloe before dropping the real gun a few feet away.

"Stace, the police are five minutes out, you should get out."

Stacie nodded even though she knew Benji couldn't see her. She wanted to kiss Aubrey, hug her, something, but she knew she couldn't. Instead she turned away from her. "The police are coming, she should be out for a while."

She started walking away but Aubrey's voice stopped her. "Thank you."

Stacie turned to face Aubrey. She was standing on her good leg in front of the window and holding her arm against her side. Stacie took a step towards her but stopped, reminding herself that she couldn't do this here.

The step took her to a spot where the faint light coming in through the window shone over her face, her green eyes, the only thing visible under her suit, reflecting the moonlight back.

Aubrey's breath caught in her throat, she would recognize those eyes anywhere. "Stacie?"

Stacie froze not knowing what to do. Her first instinct was to deny everything and step back into the darkness, play it off as a trick of the light and Aubrey's blood loss, but she was tired of lying so she took another step forward. "Bree."

"It's you." Stacie took another step forward and Aubrey stumbled backwards.

Stacie pulled the mask covering her nose and mouth down. "I can explain."

"Of course it's you, how could I have been so stupid." Aubrey's chuckled over a sob. "Chloe was right, you never loved me."

"What? Aubrey, it's not like that. I love you. Please let me explain." The sound of sirens distracted Stacie momentarily and she looked out the window. She could see the red and blue glow traveling through the woods. "I have to go, but please let me explain later."

Stacie reached out to her and Aubrey recoiled as if she would get burned just by her touch. "If you ever come near me again I will have you arrested."

Stacie lowered her eyes sadly, barely registering Benji's voice. "Stace, you have to get out now."

Stacie ran to the stairs. She gave Aubrey one last sad look before pulling her mask back on and disappearing into the darkness.

* * *

Aubrey walked into her office that morning and threw away the bouquet of oriental lilies sitting on her desk, vase and everything, like she had done every morning for the past two weeks. She never looked at the card, she didn't know if they said the same thing or even if they said anything. She barely even thought about it anymore, it was part of her routine. Wake up alone, go on her morning run, shower, get dressed, stop for coffee, get to the office, throw away the flowers, work way past the time everyone else went home, and collapse exhausted in bed. Rinse and repeat.

She tried to stay busy enough that she didn't have time to think about Stacie, about the fact that the past year and a half of her life had been a lie, and that her once best friend had tried to kidnap and murder her. Stacie had apparently believed her when she said she'd have her arrested because she hadn't tried to see her yet, but the flowers came everyday.

The first time Aubrey walked into her office to find the vase filled with her favorite flowers she stopped at the door, her throat closing up and her chest heavy. It had only been a few of days since the incident. They had taken her to the hospital, stitched her up and kept her overnight to make sure she didn't have a concussion. That night in the hospital had been the worst. She spent the whole time awake blaming herself for Beca's death, for Chloe's breakdown, and for not seeing the truth about Stacie. She went over their entire relationship, from their casual meeting, which she was sure hadn't been casual at all, to the night of her abduction. Every kiss, every touch, every whispered word in the middle of the night felt like a stab to her chest. She couldn't understand how she could have been so stupid to believe it.

After she was released from the hospital she went straight to her apartment. Even though she was glad she had kept it after practically living at Stacie's, the place didn't feel like home anymore. She went back to work the next day, deciding to cut Stacie completely out of her life and her thoughts.

But the flowers were there, fresh, every morning. She didn't understand what Stacie was trying to accomplish by sending them, there was nothing she could say that would change the fact that she had lied to her.

She sat down at her desk and called her personal assistant, an overeager pre-law student, who entered her office and looked at the discarded flowers as if he expected this to be the day they stayed on the desk.

"I need you to do me a favor." Her assistant nodded eagerly. "I usually wouldn't ask for something this personal, but I need you to pick up some things from this address and return this." She handed him an envelope with Stacie's address and phone number scrawled on the back. "You should call beforehand to let her know you're stopping by. It's not urgent."

Aubrey exhaled heavily when the door closed after her assistant. She had put off getting her things from Stacie's house, mostly because she hadn't wanted to think about it, but also because a small part of her still refused to believe the truth. But if she was really going to try to move on, she needed a clean break.

She still hadn't decided what she was going to do about what she knew. Stacie was a criminal, her job was to put her in jail. She didn't regret letting her go, she had saved her life. But the fact that Aubrey now knew her secret hadn't stopped Stacie from running around the city playing vigilante. In fact, it seemed like she had been busier since Aubrey found out. She was trying not to take it as an affront, but only in the past week, the number of Night Shade related arrests had tripled.

She gave the lilies one last longing look, her eyes stopping on the card. Her hand twitched on the desk but she closed her fingers into a fist and turned away. She hoped that after Stacie got the envelope she'd get the message and stop sending flowers.

* * *

Stacie finished folding the last of Aubrey's clothes and zipped the suitcase, putting it on the floor and wiping her cheek. She hadn't really stopped crying since Aubrey had left, the constant stream from the first few days was now just a silent tear here and there, but it had intensified since she got the call from Aubrey's assistant asking when he could pick up Aubrey's things.

She grabbed a box and looked around the room. She couldn't really tell what was hers and what was Aubrey's anymore, she had come to think of everything as theirs. She felt tempted to throw everything in the box and just get new things, but the thought of losing the last remnants of her life with Aubrey made her heart ache.

She grabbed the book from the bedside table that Aubrey had been reading, remembering the last time she lay on her lap reading while Stacie combed her fingers through her hair. She hesitated before reaching for her pillow. She knew Aubrey was used to it, she complained every time Stacie took it, but Stacie had been sleeping on it for the past two weeks and she didn't want to let it go. She sighed and threw it in the box.

She continued going through their room, stopping at each item and trying to decide if Aubrey would care about having it, until the room looked as empty as she felt. She closed the box, carrying everything downstairs and stopping along the way to grab a few other things she thought Aubrey would miss, like her favorite tea steeper and a mug from Stacie's gradschool that Aubrey argued was just the right size for her morning coffee.

She left everything by the door and went through the house one more time, checking she hadn't missed anything when she saw the blanket. It was balled up on the side of the couch, probably discarded when Aubrey got up to open the door for Chloe. She sat down on the couch and grabbed a corner, running her fingers over the flourished 'SC' embroidered there. Her grandma had made it for her when she was a kid, a little before she died. It was one of the only things she had from her family. She used to keep it on the window seat in the library, but she took it to the living room one time Aubrey had come over when they had just started dating and Aubrey had fallen in love with it.

Stacie didn't know how many hours they had spent curled up under that blanket watching movies or reading. It had a coffee stain from one time Stacie had jumped on the couch and caused Aubrey to spill her cup. Aubrey had tried to get the stain out but she couldn't get all of it and Stacie loved the blanket more with it. She picked up the blanket and folded it, weighing it in her hands for a few seconds before walking to the front door and throwing it in the box.

The doorbell rang some time later. Stacie barely looked at Aubrey's assistant, she knew she looked like hell with her red eyes and messy hair. She didn't ask about Aubrey, she didn't want to know how she was. Any answer would hurt too much.

She took the envelope from him and closed the door, walking to the couch and sitting down, her fingers brushing over Aubrey's familiar handwriting. She ripped it open and looked inside, her breath squeezing out of her lungs when the only thing she found inside was the engagement ring she had given Aubrey.

She picked it up between her fingers and inhaled shakily, her other hand crushing the envelope between her fingers. She placed the ring on the coffee table and the crumpled up envelope next to it, standing up and walking out of the house. She couldn't bear to stay there anymore, not when Aubrey wasn't coming back.

* * *

Aubrey walked into her office reading a file, her hand reaching out automatically to throw away the flower bouquet but there was nothing there. She lowered the file and looked at the empty corner of her desk. She still got a vase the previous day, the day after Stacie got the ring, so she figured it hadn't changed anything.

She walked around her desk, sitting and focusing on the file again but her eyes kept moving to where the flower vase would have stood. She still hadn't opened the box she got from Stacie. She had left the suitcase and the box next to her front door where her assistant had put them, she didn't feel like going through everything yet.

She ran her thumb along the inside of her ring finger. She hadn't put her ring back after the hospital, throwing it in the envelope she had used to send it back to Stacie when she got home, but she still felt it. She thought it would go away after she gave it back, after she got her things back and the flowers stopped. She thought it would get easier to accept the fact that it was over, that she'd feel free, but she just felt alone.

Focusing on work took an extra effort that day. Her eyes kept flitting to the corner of her desk as if she hoped the flower vase had materialized out of thin air. She went out to lunch for the first time since she got back, thinking that getting out of her office would do her good, but she spent the whole time feeling sorry for herself and remembering the last time she'd been in that restaurant with Stacie.

By the end of the day she was exhausted, she was barely focusing on what she was doing and was thinking about maybe going home earlier than usual when her cellphone rang. She took it out of her purse and looked at the caller ID but it was a blocked number.

She bit her lip and stared at it without answering. Very few people had her personal number. It stopped ringing for a few seconds and then it started again. She picked up the phone. "Aubrey Posen."

"Aubrey, it's Benji. Benjamin Applebaum, Stacie's coworker. We've met several times."

Aubrey almost chuckled at Benji's awkwardness but her confusion won out. She didn't know what Stacie had told people about their breakup and she didn't understand what Benji could want. "Hey, Benji. What's up?"

"I know you and Stacie aren't together anymore. And I wouldn't call you if it wasn't this bad but-"

Aubrey straightened up, a pang of fear running down her spine. "Did something happen?"

"Not yet." Benji paused. "I understand you know about Stacie's... side job."

"You know?" Aubrey didn't know if she was more surprised or hurt that someone else knew when she just found out.

"Yeah," Benji replied nervously. "I help her with some stuff. That's what I'm calling about. Ever since you broke up she's been acting reckless. She's been going after dangerous people, people she can't take on her own."

"Benji, I can't listen to this. I can't talk about this, I'm the DA."

"She's going to end up dead!"

Aubrey took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I can't help her."

"Yes you can! She'll listen to you, you're the reason why she's doing it. She's heartbroken."

Aubrey chuckled darkly. "She's heartbroken? She lied to me! Our entire relationship was a lie."

"She loves you, Aubrey," Benji replied softly. "She lied because she didn't think you'd understand."

"Well, I don't." Aubrey shook her head, trying to ignore the way Benji's words echoed in her heart. "I can't get involved, I'm sorry. She's not my problem anymore."

"You're right. Your entire relationship must have been a lie for you to just walk away like this when she needs you." Benji hung up.

Aubrey let her phone fall on the desk and she rested her forehead on her hands. She felt her throat closing up and tears prickled her eyes. She took a deep ragged breath, her shoulders shaking roughly as she exhaled.

She didn't want anything to happen to Stacie. No matter how hard she had tried, she was still in love with her. But she couldn't go back, she couldn't let herself believe what Benji said. Stacie didn't love her.

She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, standing up and gathering her things. She drove home, walking into her kitchen and grabbing the bottle of tequila she kept in one of the cabinets. She had bought it ages ago, before Stacie, before everything with Beca and Chloe. She didn't really drink anything but wine, she didn't like not feeling in control of her actions. But she needed to get out of her head tonight.

She poured herself a couple of fingers on a glass and downed it, refilling it immediately and taking her glass and the bottle to the living room. She set the bottle down on the coffee table taking with her the box she got from Stacie.

She sat back and sipped on her drink staring at the box as if trying to find out if whatever was in it was dangerous. She refilled her glass once more, leaning forward and running her hand across the top edge. She picked on the lid before making up her mind and opening the box. She remained seated, not really able to look inside the box from her position on the couch.

She stood up unsteadily already feeling the buzz from the tequila. She held on to the edge of the box and looked inside, the sight of the blanket on top hitting her like a punch to the stomach. She reached inside the box shakily and pulled the blanket out, hugging it to her chest and pressing it against her cheek.

She sat back on the couch, ignoring the rest of the stuff in the box and just letting herself be enveloped by the familiar scent and softness of the blanket. She didn't understand why Stacie had given it to her, she knew how much she loved it. It made no sense. Unless…

Aubrey shook her head trying to erase that thought. She didn't know what game Stacie was playing but she wasn't going to fall back into it. She finished the tequila in her glass and set it down, opting to forgo the glass and taking a big sip straight from the bottle.

She pulled her feet up on the couch, hugging the bottle with one hand and the blanket with the other one. She took a sip from the bottle every time she started thinking about it, until everything got too foggy to do anything other than put the bottle down and close her eyes.

* * *

She woke up after noon the next day, her back and neck hurting from the uncomfortable position in which she'd slept on the couch. She squinted at the sun and sighed relieved when she remembered it was a Saturday, stretching her back with a groan and sitting up. The blanket fell onto her lap and she stared at it, the foggy memory of opening the box and finding it inside coming back slowly. She traced Stacie's initials on the corner of the blanket thoughtfully. She tried to come up with a reason why Stacie would give it to her, anything other than Stacie actually caring about her. She could feel the tiniest spark of hope inside her and she needed to snuff it.

She laid down the blanket on the couch and went to the kitchen, taking the tequila bottle with her and exchanging it for some water and breakfast. After she was done eating and her head didn't feel like it was going to explode, she went back into the living room, pulling the box down onto the floor next to the couch and going through the rest of its contents.

Aside from her clothes in the suitcase and a few personal items, most of what Stacie had sent back wasn't really hers. They were Stacie's things, things Aubrey had claimed while she was living there. She would have understood if Stacie had kept them. If she had been the one to pack her own things she wouldn't have taken most of this stuff. But Stacie packed all of it: all the things that made Aubrey happy, that made Stacie's house feel like her home.

A tear rolled down her cheek and fell when it reached her chin. For a moment she had hoped to find a note, that Stacie would try to explain one last time, but there was nothing. The hope inside of her turned into guilt as she realized Stacie had to have cared about her to even notice she cared about many of these things. She wondered if she should've been more open to hearing Stacie's side, if she should have at least read the notes she sent with the flowers. For the first time since she learned the truth, she started to believe that Stacie might have loved her for real.

She closed the suitcase and grabbed the pillow from the box, taking them both to her bedroom. She unpacked everything in the suitcase, smiling fondly when she realized Stacie had washed the clothes she'd left in the hamper. She found a few articles of Stacie's clothing that she was particularly attached to, one of her shirts she sometimes used to sleep in, Stacie's fuzziest socks. She didn't know if Stacie had done it so she'd miss her, but it was working.

It was getting dark by the time she was done putting everything away. She sat on her bed looking at her phone wondering if she should call her. Whatever happened between them, she didn't want anything to happen to Stacie. She had noticed how Night Shade arrests had escalated in the past weeks, and it was just a matter of time before she got hurt. If Benji was right, and everything she had found supported that theory, she could still do something to help Stacie.

She twisted her bottom lip and called Stacie's number. She waited until her name flashed on her screen before lifting it up to her ear and held her breath.

"Aubrey! Thank God you called."

Aubrey frowned. "Benji?"

"Yes, sorry. Stacie's out on a job right now. It's not going so well."

Aubrey sat up. "Is she okay?"

"She is for now."

Aubrey could hear the hesitation in Benji's voice. "Benji, what's happening?"

"She went after-" He hesitated. "-Jesse Swanson."

"The mob boss?"

"I tried to stop her! She wouldn't listen to me."

Aubrey ran her hand through her hair nervously. "Where is she?"

* * *

Stacie ran in between two shipping crates. Shots rang out against the metal over her head as she zig zagged around the shipping yard. She turned a corner and crashed against someone, falling to the ground. "Shit."

The crash sent her gun skidding away from her, and before she could stretch her arm to get it back, a kick to her side made her roll away. She felt a sharp pain and she gritted her teeth as she rolled away and stood up. She blocked a few punches but she was favoring her left side. She landed a kick to the guy's groin making him bend forward. She grabbed his shoulders and hit his nose with her knee rendering him unconscious.

She bent over to grab her fallen gun and kept running, turning again as she got to the end of the nearest crate. Her right side was throbbing painfully and she kept having to stop.

"Stace, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She ducked as more gunshots clanged over her head. "I can't find Swanson."

"You need to get out of there, the cops are on their way."

Stacie stopped short when her path was blocked by two guys holding really big guns. She turned around to find another guy walking towards her from behind. "I don't know if that's gonna be possible right now."

Stacie considered her options and pressed her back to one of the crates. She felt a shot hit her side and bounce off her suit. She took a deep breath and then started running, jumping as she got to the other crate and using the magnets in her gloves to climb up the side. She felt more bullets hit her suit, a few shot from too close for it to fully absorb the impact, but she pulled herself up on top of the crate, lying on her back to catch her breath for a moment before she took off along the top.

"Get to the southeast exit, it's the closest one to where you are and the cops will most likely get there from the north."

"On it." Stacie changed course and jumped to the next crate, running as fast as her injuries allowed. "I'm almost there."

"The police are less than a minute out."

Stacie jumped off the last crate and crouched into a fall, groaning at the pain it caused in her chest.

"You're leaving already? But we were having so much fun!"

Stacie whirled around to find the man she had been looking for standing in front of her with a smug smile on his face. He had a metal ball that he kept throwing from hand to hand and rattled every time he caught it.

Stacie started moving backwards away from him, slowly at first and then almost running. There was nothing between her and the gate, all she had to do was make it out and hide.

Jesse's smile widened and he removed something from the thing in his hand. "Catch."

He threw it at Stacie, her eyes widening when she noticed it was a grenade. She turned around and ran full speed towards the gate. She ran until she heard the explosion and she was thrown across the exit.

* * *

Aubrey drove as fast as she could. Benji had sent the optimal route to the GPS in her car so she didn't have to worry about cops or traffic, she just had to get there in time. She rounded the last corner and drove to the end of the street, stopping just before it opened up to the entrance to the shipping yard.

She saw Stacie running towards her and she smiled. She hadn't thought about how much she'd missed her, even in her stupid Night Shade suit. She had a slight limp but she didn't look too bad, she was safe and everything would be fine.

And then she heard the explosion and watched as Stacie was flung forward by the blast. Aubrey gasped and drove the car next to where she was lying, getting out of the car and rolling her around. She didn't think about the men with guns that had been chasing Stacie, but luckily everyone had cleared out when the grenade went off.

She kneeled next to Stacie, pulling down her mask and cupping her cheek. "Stacie, wake up." She shook her shoulder, her voice cracking with worry. "Stace."

She heard sirens and knew they didn't have enough time. She grabbed Stacie by the arms and dragged her to the door. Stacie groaned as she was trying to get her in the back seat and opened her eyes. "Am I dead?"

Aubrey chuckled through a sob. "No, you're okay. Everything's going to be fine." She brushed Stacie's hair away from her face, her heart skipping as Stacie leaned into her touch. There was so much she wanted to say and ask and do but right now wasn't the time. She got out of the car and back on the driver's seat, dialing Benji's number as she started it. "I have her, where do we go?"

"I'm sending it to your GPS now. They're setting up a perimeter so you have to hurry."

"Right." Aubrey stepped on the gas pedal and looked at Stacie through the rearview mirror. "Who'd have thought I'd end up being your getaway driver."

"Bree," Stacie croaked out. She was holding her side with one hand, her face scrunched up in pain.

"We'll talk later. Just stay awake, okay?" She tightened her grip on the wheel. "She needs to go to a hospital."

"Just bring her here, she'll be fine," Benji replied. "Her vitals are stable."

"You're monitoring her vitals?"

"Of course."

Aubrey stopped talking even though she still had a lot of questions. She wasn't used to driving this fast and she needed all of her focus just to stay in her lane. It took her way too long to realize where they were going. "I'm taking her to the house?"

"Sort of."

The GPS took her past the house and she slowed down. It told her to turn into the woods behind the property, but there wasn't anything there. "Benji, are you sure about this?"

"Just follow the GPS."

She turned into a dirt road that was mostly covered with leaves and drove through the woods at a way slower speed now. She saw lights ahead of her and frowned. She was sure there was nothing there, she'd been out here with Stacie a bunch of times. As she got closer she realized there was a ramp leading into an underground road. The leaf covered entrance turned into a cinderblock corridor that opened up into a large garage.

She spotted Benji on one side and she stopped the car as close to him as she could get. She hadn't turned off the car when Benji was already pulling the door open and crawling in to check on Stacie. Aubrey was still looking around, her brow furrowed in thought as she recognized Stacie's car and saw a couple of motorcycles, as well as another car under a tarp in the corner.

"A little help here?" Benji said as he tried to pull Stacie onto the gurney.

Aubrey quickly got out of the car and ran to the other side.

Stacie was swatting at Benji and trying to sit up as he helped her out of the car. "I'm fine."

"You're not." Aubrey made her lie down on the gurney and Benji pushed it into a hallway and through another door into a brightly lit exam room.

Benji started unzipping Stacie's suit and peeling it back, exposing a large bruise on her right side and smaller ones where the bullets had hit her. Aubrey ran to the other side and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly.

Stacie looked up at her and smiled. "You're here."

"You're an idiot," Aubrey replied shaking her head, her eyes filling up with tears.

"She's gonna need x-rays and a scan to make sure she's not bleeding internally but she looks okay considering. Did she hit her head?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

Stacie laced their fingers. "I think I must have. Or I died. Is this heaven?"

Benji rolled his eyes. "I'm going to give you something for the pain." He looked at Aubrey. "She's going to be fine. You can wait out there, I'll call you when I'm done."

Aubrey nodded and loosened her grip around Stacie's hand but Stacie tugged her back. "I love you."

Aubrey closed her eyes, letting herself believe those words for the first time in a while. She gave Stacie's hand a little squeeze. "I love you too."

Aubrey walked out of the room and down the hall the opposite way they had come. There were a couple of closed doors along the way and it ended in Stacie's control room. She looked at the screen in front of her, there was a map of the city spanning the whole thing with red dots blinking in a couple of places.

She walked to the side of the room where a long worktable was covered with a bunch of loose wires and tools stood next to a cabinet with bottles filled with chemicals. She picked up a weird looking mask on the table and flipped it over, running her fingers on the inside.

"She's been working on that a mask for a while. It's hard to make the air filters look cool enough apparently," Benji said.

Aubrey half smiled and put it down. "Sounds like her." She turned around to face Benji. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, no internal bleeding. She has a mild concussion and a few bruises but she'll recover on her own. She's just getting changed." Benji pursed his lips and looked down nervously. "She just needs to rest."

"Good. That's good." Aubrey looked around awkwardly. "I should go then." She walked to the door and squeezed Benji's arm when he got to him. "Thanks Benji."

"Yeah, sure." Benji watched her walk away with a frown.

She stopped for a second in front of the closed door of the room where Stacie was, she lifted her fist to knock on the door but stopped at the last second. They could talk some other time. She turned and continued her walk to the garage.

"You're leaving?"

Aubrey stopped at the sound of Stacie's voice and turned back around. She was standing barefoot in the middle of the hallway in shorts and a tank top, her hand pressed against her side. Aubrey walked back and stopped a couple of feet in front of Stacie. "Benji said you were fine."

"Yeah." Stacie nodded and looked down to hide the hurt in her eyes. "Thanks for bringing me back."

"Benji called and said you needed me."

"I always need you."

"Stace." Aubrey took a step closer to her. "We should talk. When you're feeling better."

Stacie looked up with a small smile. "That sounds good."

"Text me tomorrow to check in?" Aubrey kissed Stacie's cheek softly.

"Sure." Stacie exhaled the word barely above a whisper. She didn't think she'd ever get to talk to Aubrey again, let alone get kissed.

Aubrey was walking away again before Stacie could react. She thought about going after her but she figured letting Aubrey come to her on her own time was best. The fact that she hadn't called the police on them was already a huge thing. She heard Aubrey's car start and the pneumatic mechanism that opened the doors to the woods.

She turned and walked towards the control room, watching Aubrey pulling out on the security cameras. Benji closed the doors once she was outside and swiveled his chair towards her with a sheepish expression.

"You called Aubrey."

"Yeah." He picked at his sleeve nervously. "You're out of control, Stacie. And I know the only person you'll listen to is her."

Stacie touched her side, still sore despite the painkillers. She knew going after Jesse had been reckless, she hadn't had time to make a proper plan, but she knew he wouldn't have stayed at the shipyard for long and she had to act. She should've waited.

"Thank you."

Benji looked up surprised. He thought Stacie wouldn't be too happy about him butting into her business and calling Aubrey. But then he noticed Stacie's small hopeful smile. He hoped he hadn't set up Stacie for more heartbreak.

* * *

Aubrey frowned when one of the housekeepers opened the door. "Hi, is Stacie home?"

"She is but-" She paused unsure. "-come in. She's in your- her room."

Aubrey smiled at her. "Thanks."

Aubrey went up the main staircase to Stacie's room. It felt weird walking through a house she used to call hers not that long ago and feel like a guest. She knocked softly on Stacie's door, pushing it open slowly when she told her to come in.

"Aubrey." Stacie sat up, grimacing from the pain in her side. "I didn't expect you so soon."

Aubrey took another step towards the bed. "I can come back if you want."

"No, it's good. I've been in bed all day, I'm going stir crazy." Stacie smiled. "You're my favorite distraction."

Aubrey walked the rest of the way to the bed and sat down on the edge next to Stacie. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm better. Still a bit sore." She bit her lip and took Aubrey's hand from her lap. "Bree, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you-"

Aubrey took her hand back and shook her head. "Stop. I don't need more apologies I need..." Aubrey sighed. "When we met, did you seek me out or was it really an accident?"

Stacie looked away for a second. "It was on purpose."

"Why?"

"I wanted to get to know you, find out your weaknesses in case I needed it later." She grabbed Aubrey's hand again. "But I forgot all about that when I got to know you. Bree, I know I did it all wrong but you know me, you know I wouldn't have taken it that far if I didn't mean it. If I didn't love you."

Aubrey shook her head. "I don't. I don't know you."

"You do." Stacie leaned forward and cupped her cheeks. "You know me. I lied about what I did but I never lied about who I am. You know what I'm trying to do, why it's important to me. I want to make the city safer, to stop people from taking advantage of the flaws in the system. I know you don't agree with how I do it and that's why I didn't tell you. I was scared you wouldn't understand and that I'd lose you. But lying to you about it was worse, I see that now."

Stacie closed her eyes and rested her forehead against Aubrey's, brushing her thumbs over her cheekbones. "I need you to believe that our relationship was real, that I meant everything I said and did. I love you, Aubrey."

Aubrey exhaled loudly. Stacie's touch made her skin tingle and she was having trouble breathing. She wanted to believe Stacie and forgive her more than anything but she still didn't fully trust her.

Stacie opened her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Bree, please."

Aubrey pulled back and Stacie let her hands fall. Stacie looked down, more tears falling silently down her cheeks but she made no move to wipe them.

Aubrey tilted her chin up and used her thumb to wipe her tears away. "I want to believe you." She brushed a strand of Stacie's hair back. "I want nothing more than tell you that we can get past this and everything's going to be fine."

"What's stopping you?"

"I don't know if I can trust you." Aubrey took Stacie's hand, her eyes focused on Stacie's fingers.

"Let me win your trust back. Please give me another chance." Stacie laced their fingers. "No more lies."

Aubrey took a deep breath. "And the Night Shade thing?"

"What about that?"

"You can't keep doing what you're doing, it's dangerous and illegal. It's not your job to go fight people in the streets."

"I'll be more careful." Aubrey tilted her head and arched her eyebrows. "Let me show you what I do. Not what you hear in the news, or what you hear from the idiots I capture. And if after that you still think it's wrong, I'll stop."

"You would do that for me?"

The side of Stacie's smile quirked up because there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for Aubrey. She nodded and Aubrey smiled back. "Okay."

Stacie's smile widened. "Okay, you'll give me another chance?" Aubrey nodded and Stacie threw her arms around her. "You won't regret it."

Stacie pulled back and cupped her cheek leaning in slowly in case Aubrey didn't want this but Aubrey didn't pull away, closing the remaining distance herself and crashing their lips together. It felt familiar and new all at the same time and she couldn't believe she'd gone this long without kissing her.

She pulled back a fraction of an inch and her breath mingled with Stacie's. Stacie opened her eyes and smiled, tilting her head and bumping their noses together. She placed a series of kisses on the corner of Aubrey's lips.

"How are you?" Aubrey frowned confused. "About Chloe and everything? Have you talked to anyone about it?" Aubrey shook her head and looked down. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Aubrey lifted her head and kissed Stacie once before sitting back. "Not now."

"Okay." Stacie ran her hand down her arm and took her hand lacing their fingers together. "Stay for dinner."

Aubrey nodded. "I'd like that."

* * *

Aubrey got in Stacie's car with a smile. Stacie leaned forward and stopped just before Aubrey's lips with a smirk. Aubrey leaned forward and pecked her lips. "Hey."

"Hey. You ready?"

Aubrey pursed her lips. "I'm not sure."

"Just keep an open mind, okay?"

"Okay," Aubrey replied with a smile. Stacie kissed her again before pulling out into the street. "Are you taking me to your batcave again?"

"It's not a batcave. It's my base of operations, and my super secret lab where I work on super secret stuff. It's all very secret." Aubrey rolled her eyes and Stacie reached across to take her hand. "There's even a secret password to get in."

"Oh?"

"Yes, it's very secret. I change it every few months. And it only works if I say it. Or Benji."

"Am I gonna get special secret access to the secret lab?"

"That's up to you." Stacie squeezed her hand and let go to turn into the dirt road in the woods. "So, how it works - it's very high tech - there are a couple of sensors on those trees up ahead so when we drive past them." Something beeped and the screen on Stacie's car prompted her for a password. "Be3Al2SiO6."

There was another beep and the screen read 'Password confirmed'. Aubrey arched an eyebrow. "That's your password? What even is that?"

Stacie slowed down and a door opened up on the ground in front of them to the tunnel that lead to the garage. "It's a chemical formula."

"For what?"

"Your birthstone." Stacie mumbled.

Aubrey grinned and waited for her to park in the large garage. Stacie tilted her head and looked at her curiously. "What?"

"You're ridiculous. How long has that been your password?"

Stacie shrugged. "A few months? Benji didn't like having to say 'I love Aubrey Posen' to get in. And he said it was pretty easy for someone to record me saying it."

"You're a sap," Aubrey said with a chuckle and kissed her.

After a while Stacie pulled back. "Shall we continue with the tour?"

"Lead the way."

They got out of the car and Stacie gestured around. "So this is the garage." She walked to the pair of bikes parked on one side and pointed at one. "These are my bikes, though I only really use this one. I've been working on the other one, bulletproof panels and such but I rarely ever drive anywhere that needs bulletproofing."

She walked to the other corner and pulled the tarp off the car. "I've also been working on this. Just added some enhancements and a better computer."

"Is this an Aston Martin?" Aubrey asked with a smirk. Stacie nodded excitedly. "You know you're not a spy, right? You're a vigilante."

"I'm a superhero. Emphasys on the super." She took Aubrey's hand and pulled her to the door. "Come on."

She pulled her down the hallway. "This is the exam room where Benji patches me up. He was an EMT through college, it's very convenient." She winked. "We have an x-ray machine and an ultrasound machine. We have to outsource my CTs but I've only needed it once."

"Stacie," Aubrey said steepling her hands in front of her lips. "If you're going to continue to do this you're going to have to be more careful."

"I know."

"And I'm not okay with it yet."

"I know." Stacie tried to make her keep moving.

"Stacie, I'm serious!"

Stacie sighed and grabbed her elbows. "Baby, I promise I'll be more careful."

"Thank you."

Stacie kissed her and took her hand again moving forward. "This is the room where I throw all my failed or pending experiments. Don't go in there, some are a bit unstable."

They walked into the control room and Stacie let go of Aubrey. "And this is where the magic happens." She gestured around the room theatrically and started pointing out things to Aubrey with a big smile on her face. "Super cool screen connected to our computers. We're connected to the police dispatch so whenever a call comes in, a dot appears on the map. I also use it to watch Game of Thrones sometimes.

"That's my worktable. That's where I make all my cool stuff. I'm currently working on a gas mask. I made this tranquilizer fog thing but I need a gas mask if I want to use it. It looks ugly though so I still need to work on it."

She dragged Aubrey to a cabinet in the corner of the room. "And this is my suit!" Stacie skipped excitedly and opened the cabinet doors. "It's completely bulletproof, the cape tenses up for gliding, and the gloves are the best part." She picked up the gloves and held them out for Aubrey to take, which she grabbed tentatively. "They have magnets and they discharge an electric current." Aubrey frowned. "And I know you have a problem with that but it's really just like a taser, babe. Less than a taser. It doesn't even hurt that much, I've accidentally zapped myself a few times. Also, I test everything on Benji first."

"And!" She pulled Aubrey to the other side of the room and opened the cabinet where she kept her weapons. "I don't even have real guns, they're all tranq guns and a few knives but I only take those when I go out and I don't have my suit. Like if we go out on a date or something but that's just in case something happens."

"You bring a knife when we go out?"

"Well you never know! Your job doesn't exactly ingratiate you to the criminal element in the city and I like being prepared."

"To stab someone?"

"To protect you!" Stacie put her hands on Aubrey's shoulders. "Babe, no matter what we decide about all of this, if someone tries to hurt you again I won't just stand by and let them."

"I know, and I love that you want to keep me safe but you can't just stab people."

"I've never actually stabbed anyone." Stacie shrugged.

"You were going to shoot Chloe," Aubrey said in a whisper and looked down.

"Aubrey." Stacie stepped closer and tilted her chin up. "I was upset, I wasn't thinking. She took you and she could've killed you." She sighed. "I'm glad you stopped me."

"You can't hurt people, no matter what they've done to me."

"I know that, I do. I'm just not the most rational person when it comes to you and your safety."

Aubrey stood on her toes and kissed Stacie. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Aubrey shook her head and pressed her finger to Stacie's lips to shut her up. "I love you, but no more knives."

Stacie nodded and Aubrey replaced her finger with her lips. After exchanging a series of kisses, Stacie stepped back and reached inside the cabinet. "Now for the last stop."

She pulled something out and held it in front of Aubrey smiling. "What's that?"

"A bulletproof vest!" Stacie lifted it over Aubrey's head.

Aubrey batted her hands away. "What are you doing?"

Stacie dropped her hands. "You can't come fight crime with me without protection."

"What? I didn't agree to that."

"I told you I'd show you everything. That includes an actual crime fighting outing." Stacie pouted. "It'll be fun, put it on."

Aubrey chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Stacie pulled it over Aubrey's head and tightened the straps on the sides. "There, you look adorable."

"I highly doubt that. How am I hiding my identity?"

Stacie pursed her lips and thought about it for a second. She moved back to the cabinet where she kept her suit and pulled out a drawer, taking something out and pulling it over Aubrey's head. "There."

"A ski mask?" Her eyebrow shot up under the mask.

"It's bulletproof too! It was one of my first suit options but it completely ruined my hair. The hood is more benign with my do. And-" Stacie lifted the bottom part of the mask. "-we can practice our spiderman kiss."

Aubrey laughed through the kiss and pushed her back. "I'd have to be upside down."

"I've been working on some magnetic boots! We can try it once I perfect them," Stacie said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Aubrey shook her head and kissed her again before pulling the ski mask off. "Are we going or what?"

"Let me just get changed."

Once Stacie was ready, they walked back to the garage and Stacie grabbed a spare helmet from a peg on the wall and held it out for Aubrey to put on. Stacie stifled a laugh when Aubrey did, the bulky bulletproof vest and the helmet making her look ridiculous.

"What?"

"Nothing, you look cute." Stacie patted the top of the helmet before putting on hers and climbing on her bike. "Hop on."

Aubrey was startled when she heard Stacie's voice inside the helmet. "I can hear you in my head."

"Yeah, my comm is linked to your helmet. It also has a mic so I can hear you. Keep it on."

Aubrey climbed on with some difficulty and wrapped her arms around Stacie's waist. "We're gonna have to do this when I'm not wearing a padded vest and you're not wearing a cape."

"Oh, definitely. I'll even lend you my leather jacket so you feel like a proper bad girl." Aubrey slapped Stacie's thigh and Stacie laughed. "Ready?"

She fired up the bike as soon as Aubrey told her she was ready and drove out of the garage. They rode around the city for a while, seemingly without a destination.

"Where are we going?"

"We're looking for crime."

"We're just driving around."

Stacie turned another corner and slowed down. "Nothing's come in through the police scanner."

"So we're just gonna drive around until it does?"

Stacie pulled over and was about to say something when a call came in through her comm reporting shots fired a few blocks away. "We got something!"

Aubrey wished Stacie didn't sound so excited by the prospect of running into danger, but she tightened her arms around Stacie's waist as she dashed ahead.

Stacie stopped the bike right at the mouth of a long dark alley. She got down and took off her helmet, turning to Aubrey as she was doing the same. "Stay over here no matter what."

Stacie turned around and moved stealthily down the alley, stopping behind a dumpster. She peeked over it. There were two men pointing guns at each other.

Stacie rolled her eyes and walked out from behind the dumpster with her hands up. "What's wrong, boys?"

They both turned to look at her, immediately turning back to point the guns at each other.

"Come on, guys. I'm sure we can find a way to get out if this stalemate." She extended her hands and the guns flew out of the men's hands. She dropped both clips and the guns. "Now, usually I would just let you walk away since no one got hurt, but I'm trying to impress a girl and your guns have the serial numbers filed off, which is illegal, and I'm pretty sure this was some kind drug deal go wrong, so if you can make this easy and not run away, I will just zip tie you to that fire escape."

The men looked at each other and started running down the alley. Stacie huffed and took out her dart gun and shot them both with a bored expression. She walked to them, dropping the guns close enough for the police to find, and zip tied their wrists, making sure there were tight enough before walking back to where she left Aubrey.

"Now we leave before the cops arrive."

* * *

Stacie pulled up to a bluff overlooking the city and turned off the bike. She helped Aubrey down, taking off her helmet and ski mask and letting her deal with the bulletproof vest while she took off her cape and gloves. They walked to the edge and sat down, Stacie behind Aubrey holding her against her chest.

They sat in silence for a while looking down at the city, Stacie playing with Aubrey's hair. Aubrey leaned back after a while and turned her head to kiss Stacie's cheek. Stacie smiled and and ran her hands down her arms. "What did you think?"

"Well, I have to admit that I had a different idea about what you did."

"Yeah?"

"It was a lot less violent than I thought. Except for that big dude who tried to rob the pawn shop, you should think of getting different tranq darts for when you encounter larger people."

"Yeah, I need..." She paused, her mouth pursed in thought slowly turning into a smile. "Does that mean that you're cool with me being Night Shade?"

"I guess," Aubrey replied with a shrug. "As long as you promise to be careful."

"Always."

"And you promise to try not to hurt people."

"Of course."

Aubrey turned around and sat on Stacie's lap straddling her hips. She wrapped an arm around her shoulders and cupped her cheek with her free hand. "Then yes, I can live you going around the city playing superhero."

Stacie grinned and leaned up to kiss her. When they parted Stacie looked down shily for a moment, her lower lip between her teeth as she looked back at Aubrey. "Hey, I know we just got back together, and you can say no if you're not ready, but I still have your ring. You know, the pretty one with the diamond?" Aubrey nodded. "And, well, I just wanted to know if you want it back."

"If I take it back does it mean I have to marry you?" Stacie tilted her head confused. "Because that's the only way I'll take it back."

"It is?" Aubrey's heart skipped at the look of happiness that took over Stacie's face. "That's good because I don't think it'll fit as well on any of your other fingers." Aubrey narrowed her eyes. "Also because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Aubrey shook her head. "Me too."

After a series of kisses Aubrey turned back around and leaned back against Stacie to watch the sunrise.

"So do you want a suit? I can make you one and you can come with me."

"I think I do enough crime fighting during the day."

Stacie pouted. "But you can be my sidekick! We can kick ass together."

"Baby?" Stacie hummed. "Let it go."

Stacie huffed and rested her chin on Aubrey's shoulder. "Are you sure?"

"Stacie."

Stacie tackled Aubrey onto her back. "Fine." She kissed her. "I love you."

Aubrey pulled her down, the sun rising in front of them without either of them noticing.


End file.
